More than half of small business owners are confused by the jargon used in employment law, according to a new report from HR legal firm Peninsula.
Examples from the survey include leaders who thought the Bradford factor was a competition to find the best singer in Bradford and a number of business owners who thought SSP stood for “strong and stable professionalism” instead of “statutory sick pay”.
“Employment law is full of legal abbreviations and jargon that can be very confusing,” said Alan Price, HR director at Peninsula, commenting on the findings.
“When a small business owner is trying to cover many aspects of a company simultaneously, they may come across terminology they don’t recognise or understand. This can lead to incorrect processes being followed with potential costly results for the business.
“From this research, we can see it is a necessity that every business has employment law and HR support in some form as any business that has employees will inevitably have these considerations. Employment law is constantly evolving and covers a huge range of different legislations and acts in relation to the rights of employees, including gender discrimination, minimum wage increases and health and safety to name but a few.
“Keeping up with these changes can be hard for a business with no employment law or HR function. However, lack of knowledge of the law is no defence and can lead to devastating consequences for a business.
“In these challenging and unstable economic times businesses need to run efficiently and effectively in order to survive and grow. It is more important than ever to make sure they have a clean bill of legal health. This means keeping on top of employment legislation and jargon as well as having the relevant support around you.”
For more from the survey, see the Peninsula website.
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