Last week, I saw Matthew Hancock MP’s
(@MatthewHancockMP) comments welcoming the 79% reduction in Employment Tribunal
claims and the thoughtful blog by Gemma Reucroft (@HR_Gem) in response. Since
then, I have spent three days this week doing the Employment Law component of
my CIPD qualification and it has weighed on my mind further.
The tone of the article by Mr Hancock
bothered me and reminded me of how sometimes personal experiences can change
your perspective in a moment, making you realise how quick we can be to judge
people.
To illustrate my point, permit me to tell
you a story.
Like most people, I have always found
traffic jams frustrating, particularly as they would often delay my 45 minute
commute by up to 2 hours when the M25 was closed. I would lament the waste of
my time and my employer’s money, knowing I had far more useful things to be
doing with my time, along with everyone else who was affected. “If only people
would drive more carefully and considerately”, I would think.
Then, on the night of the Eurovision in May
2012, I caused a traffic jam of my own. I crashed into the central reservation
of the M4. It was just one of those things. None of the usual blame factors
applied: drinking, not taking rest breaks, talking on my phone. It just
happened- two cars not seeing each other for a split second and then not being
able to rectify it quickly enough. Thankfully, I avoided hitting the other car
and no other car hit me.
However, the memory has stayed with me. Now
when I slow to a traffic jam. I remember the words of the kind man, who helped
me to safety and gave me a bottle of Cola to settle my nerves: “You’ll be ok. This is your worst day on
the road.”
This has been true for me. My memory of
that evening is one of gratitude: for the police who assessed the scene and
took me to safety, the ambulance who assessed me, the passers by who stopped to
help, McDonalds for staying open late so I had somewhere to wait for my family
to pick me up, my family and employer for their support, my car insurance
company for processing my claim so quickly. The list goes on.
I know that I was lucky and not everyone
who has a motorway crash is ok afterwards. And I know that sometimes the person
driving has been reckless and is at fault. But I do think the same point
applies: this is their worst day on the
road.
I think the same is true for those taking
their employer to a Tribunal: this is
their worst day in their working life. Yes, even for the “unscrupulous
workers”. I say this because I learned a key lesson for me from my employment
law course this week: people don’t go
through the stress of the Employment Tribunal process if they have a better
alternative.
Most of my fellow students could think of
instances where their employer had treated them in a way that could have given
rise to an Employment Tribunal claim, but didn’t do so. In most cases, it
served them better to reframe it as a learning experience and move on to a new
opportunity. Certainly, the Case Law that we studied, showed that the
individuals involved had no other alternative other than to challenge their
employers: they might never be able to work again.
At the end of my training, I felt grateful
for the system that we have: for the politicians who make the law, for the
Judges who interpret it, for ACAS, who provide Codes of Conduct and for
employers who take their role seriously and invest in collating the appropriate
evidence to respond to claims. I also feel grateful to the people who go
through the emotional stress of pursuing their case. These people are amongst
our most vulnerable workers, who have little choice but to pursue their case and
make the working world better for all of us who have more options, or who are
less dogged.
This is in part what attracts me to HR. The
ambition to treat people as I would want to be treated, whilst not being afraid
to make the tough business decisions. And to contribute towards re-designing
how we organise the workplace so that more people have attractive alternatives
when they find themselves in a vulnerable position.
http://hrgemblog.com/2014/04/27/unscrupulous-or-unsavoury/