The Stars of Norfolk & Waveney Awards are on the look out for one last sponsor for the Education Champion of the Year. These awards a run in collaboratin with the Eastern Daily Press and aim to regonsie every day heros – people in our communities who go above and beyond what’s expect of them to make Norfolk such an amazing place to live.
As category sponsor you will receive the following:
• Chance to sit on the judging panel
• Six free tickets to the Awards evening
• Local media coverage is assured, plus involvement from other businesses
• Logos and company recognition on pre-event promotions such as programmes, flyers and posters
• Advertising across all social media – including our website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Supporters Board
• Advertising on the main screen and plasma TVs throughout the evening
• Presentation of the award to the category winner
• Photograph with category winner.
This is your opportunity to join us in singing the praises of local and give them the recognition and appreciation they so rightly deserve.
Freebridge Community Housing has once again donated £5000 to seven community groups who are making a difference across West Norfolk through the Freebridge Community Fund.
The annually awarded funding supports community groups who promote health and wellbeing, the environment, support residents or bring communities together through applications of up to £1000 for projects that have a positive impact within West Norfolk.
Representatives from this year’s successful groups were invited to lunch with Simon Smith, Vice Chairman of Freebridge’s Board, alongside the judging panel made up of Freebridge employees and tenants, where they had the opportunity to talk about their charities and the plans they have for the money they have now received.
This year the recipients of funding were the:
West Norfolk Deaf Association – who received £655 towards running a number of deaf awareness sessions for local organisations
South West Norfolk Youth Opportunities Project – who received £500 towards the purchase of furniture at the main centre
Downham Market Arts – who received £750 towards helping the group establish themselves in a new location
King’s Lynn Winter Night Shelter – who received £1000 towards providing clean laundry to their guests
Pandora Project – who received £750 towards helping support their annual domestic abuse conference
Woodcraft Folk – who received £750 towards setting up a new Woodcraft Folk group at the Discover Centre in King’s Lynn, and the
North End Trust – who received £595 towards making space available for community groups to use.
Tracy Mahoney, Service Manager at the Pandora Project said “We are delighted to receive funding from Freebridge Community Housing towards our annual domestic abuse conference for professionals. This event is very popular with local agencies and offers the opportunity to learn more about the support available for women and children affected by domestic abuse while promoting a more joined up approach to working. We are delivering workshops, speakers and networking and through backing from our sponsors the event is free for agencies to attend.”
Simon Smith, Freebridge’s Vice Chairman, also met with the charities and said “It’s always rewarding to meet with representatives from groups that are doing such valuable and much-needed work in the area, particularly given Freebridge’s vision of supporting a better West Norfolk. It is very pleasing to hear about how the money received from the Freebridge Community Fund is providing very real help to a number of extremely worthwhile projects in the area.”
Caption – Representatives from the successful community groups alongside Simon Smith, Vice Chairman of Freebridge’s Board and employees and tenants from the application judging panel.
Certain means of contact such as telephone calls and emails aren’t always the most reliable. For instance, emails have limited access, requiring Wi-Fi or an internet connection. What’s more, businesses may be too busy or unable to answer a phone call. This can often represent a missed opportunity if the customer forgets to ring back or leave a voicemail. Admittedly, texting would cover a few of these implications as it can be sent whenever and sits in the receiver’s phone until they look at it. However, texting isn’t deemed professional in the working world and this is where Google My Business’ new messaging feature could step in…
What is the new Google My Business messaging feature?
In the words of the search engine giant themselves: “Google My Business messaging allows customers viewing your listing to message you directly. Respond to questions, share information, and quickly connect, for free.“
What industries would this feature work best for?
This feature will work best for small businesses who interact personally with their customers and clients. This includes businesses such as hairdressers, taxi services, and car garages.
Typically, businesses such as these will benefit most as they’re able to answer customer queries relating to the business and find out more detailed information about what the customer needs. Instant contact also means their less wasted time that comes hand in hand with the delayed back and forth of email and missed phone calls.
On top of this, small businesses target clientele in their local area for the most part and will have the scope to answer questions from customers who live or are visiting the area. National companies may not have the knowledge of everyone’s local area to answer their questions accurately, so this could well present a golden opportunity for smaller businesses.
What is required to do this?
With this being a Google product, for the time being it’s only available to Android users. If you do own an Android device, the first requirement is to download the Google My Business app from Google Play or the App Store.
From here, it’s simple. All you need to do is open the location in your Google My Business account that you wish to manage messaging through, tap the ‘Customers’ tab and select ‘Turn on’ under ‘Messages’. You can also turn these off here, as well as delete or block any unwanted messages.
Once you’ve turned on this option for your Google My Business location, users will be able to see the ‘Message’ button within your listing. It can be found close to the ‘Call’ and ‘Website’ buttons.
Upon setting up this feature, there are various aspects to bear in mind:
You will receive notifications whenever a user contacts the company, so there’s no need to worry about missing messages.
It is possible to create an automated welcome message to ensure customers are aware that you’re active and likely to respond when given the chance.
Anyone who has access to your Google My Business location will be able to respond to messages – make sure you’re happy for everyone who has access to do this.
Customers will be able to see the profile name and photo of whichever Google account user responds to their message – ensure everyone has a professional and appropriate selection for these.
What does this mean for your other means of contact?
Whilst many customers, particularly younger audiences, may be quite taken with using this approach, there will be customers who prefer to speak to someone about their query or who need to carry out research on your website first.
Although it certainly seems that Google is constantly introducing new features to Google My Business that could make some aspects of your website redundant, your website is still the best platform for users to find out more information about your services and products. Once a user lands on your website, they’re unlikely to return to your Google My Business listing in order to contact you.
For now, we would look at the messaging feature on Google My Business as an addition to your current means of contact, helping to improve your response time and customer relationships.
The Tudor Lodge Consultants team is happy to announce we will begin to work with Calming Blankets, who provide the best-weighted blankets on the market today. We will begin collaborating with the firm to help boost their SEO presence online and increase their Google ranking through our tried and tested reliable SEO methods.
About Calming Blankets
Calming Blankets sell weighted blankets that help people get a better night’s sleep, by providing comfort through the use of their premium fabrics. These blankets have been proven to help people with insomnia, children with autism and those affected by sleep disorders. So far, the company has sold over 50,000 in Australia, and they are now launching in the UK under their new website: https://calmingblankets.co.uk
What we are doing for Calming Blankets Meta-data
Meta-data is very important when it comes to search rankings. We are helping Calming Blankets clean up their metadata, by ensuring all information listed is relevant, as well as removing duplicates on the site and making sure meta descriptions are the right length so that they are properly indexed by Google (under 165 characters).
Site clean-up
We will be carrying out a thorough clean up of the website to ensure that the site can be indexed by Google as efficiently as possible. For Calming Blankets, our team will put in every effort to ensure that all titles, descriptions, internal links, response codes and image-alt text have all been optimised and fixed. This will allow for smooth indexing of the website by Google, which will boost the firm’s online presence.
Backlinks
We will make sure that Calming Blankets has strong backlinks, and we will achieve this by having only reputable websites linking to the business which passed on authority to the website. We have already started approaching any partners for links including designers, stockists, accountants, outlets and many more. We are submitting a number of different press releases to different websites relating to business, startups, lifestyle and homes, creating relevancy and positioning the brand correctly.
Although early days, we expect to see the website rank in the top 10 pages of Google within a few weeks and gain a page 1 position within 3-6 months to competitive keywords including weighted blankets and sensory blankets.
Stop Marketing and Start Campaigning No, I haven’t lost the plot. It’s just that many of the micro business owners I interact with aren’t marketing. They’re doing something they call marketing, but it’s more a lot of ad-hoc, online and offline ‘chatter’. Marketing is planned and strategic. Planning and strategy are imperative because marketing is the thing that carries the key message of a business to a specific target audience in order to achieve an overall business objective. So, What is Marketing? Keeping it simple:
Marketing is a constant, consistent range of activities across a wide variety of channels, both online and offline
Marketing has objectives and measurable targets
Marketing is not a ‘quick win’ solution
Marketing costs money. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but it does need a budget
This is why I believe many micro businesses need to stop doing what they call marketing; because what they are doing is likely to be having very little impact on their business and profitability, while having a massive impact on their time and stress levels. Does this Mean You Should Do No Marketing? Absolutely not! I believe that micro businesses need to do two things:
Create a marketing plan
Start campaigning
Campaigns give marketing a boost. Marketing is constant and consistent delivering a key message to a target audience. Campaigns take place within a designated timeframe; campaigns are designed to achieve a specific objective such as an event, an offer or a promotion; campaigns are created to reach a particular group within the overall target audience of the business, such as VIP clients or repeat business from customers who haven’t purchased anything for the last three months. Four Key Stages in Creating a Marketing Campaign Stage 1: Planning
Define the goals and desired outcomes for the event, offer or promotion – for example, 20 repeat orders, 50 attendees at the event, turnover £5,000
Define the client group – for example, customers who previously spent more than £250
Set the event, offer or promotion date(s) – for example, 1st to 5th December
Create the title of the campaign – for example, One Day to Day One: Creating Your First Profitable Campaign, Course or Programme
Create the content of the event, offer or promotion – for example, 1-day, VIP Strategic Success Marketing Campaign Planning Day
Stage 2: Build-Up
Start a social media campaign blogging, Tweeting, posting etc. on topics connected to your event offer or promotion [NB: this is not a sales or a ‘buy me’ message]
Use email marketing and newsletter to drop hints about what is coming
Network as widely as possible to make new connections
Stage 3: Launch
Increase your social media output – be more specific about what is on offer
Ensure that your diary is clear and has enough space to enable you to handle enquiries or take-up of the offer.
Stage 4: Analysis and Follow-Up
Measure the outcomes of the campaign. Did you reach your target? What went well? What didn’t go well? What will you do differently next time?
Set the follow-up process into action
Send a personalised thank-you all those customers or clients who took-up the offer
Post out a general thank-you message across all social media channels – ensuring people know what they missed – perhaps they will be at the front of the queue next time!
If you’ would like to discuss your micro business marketing and campaign strategy in more detail, why not book a FREE Discovery Call with me today?
Love it or hate it, sales is essential for growing your business. Without savvy sales you will struggle to gain the clients you need to survive in todays competitive marketplace. But it is a constant challenge because sales has changed a lot in recent years, mainly due to the use of technology and the way customers now make their purchasing decisions. So it is important that businesses don’t fall behind by using outdated, old-school sales tactics.
There are four key ways that selling has changed. Here are my thoughts on how you can adapt.
Selling is now about people buying you, before they start to buy into your business, products and services. That means personal brand is everything! It is vital that you do not leave this process to chance and work to create the best first impression you can. You can influence how people perceive you, those working with you, and your business. Talking about industry insights that are relevant to your customers and selling your personal differentiators will help you stand out in the crowd. Think about how you can apply this in your business and how it will change how potential new customers perceive you. Ask yourself…would my competitors be so professional?
Selling is no longer about pushy cold calls. It’s about helping and finding solutions to problems. Having an understanding of your customer’s industry will help, but you need to get under their skin and find out what problems, issues, frustrations and challenges they have. Find out what the negative impact might be if these things are not addressed. Making each sales conversation about the customer’s agenda, not yours, will enable you to sell solutions to problems in a way that customers see the real value of your products or services.
We all know that there are new touchpoints that a customer will explore before deciding to buy. These might include social media, email, print adverts, brochures, websites, comparison and review sites. In fact the average sale requires 7 to 10 touches with brand before a potential buyer converts into a customer. We need to remember that customers are not just giving you their money, they’re also going you time. So it is vital that you create positive touchpoint interactions. And don’t forget content marketing, the use of which is on the rise. It shouldn’t be trying to make a direct sale, rather position your brand as a helpful resource during the decision making process.
The one size fits all approach no longer works and there is now a need for individualisation. The sales process has not really changed, but the emphasis on a hard close has long been replaced by the strong opening and the need to understand your customer’s agenda. It is essential to be flexible in your approach and use different strategies for different clients. Make the conversation relevant and about ‘them’. Asking meaningful open questions that have impact will help you uncover needs, pains, issues, frustrations and challenges that you can match with the benefits of your products or services. Only then will you be communicating real value to the customer.
With the world having a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people with similar educational backgrounds, working in similar jobs, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and similar quality, the need to stand out in the crowd is more important now than it has ever been. Essentially your customers need to understand 3 things:
WHAT are the benefits of using your business?
HOW can you help solve their problem?
WHY they should use you instead of a competitor?
This means that everyone within your business who has direct contact with customers, potential new and existing, needs to understand your sales value proposition. Your SVP shows how your products or services create value for a specific customer segment and it has four essential elements:
Seeing things from the customers perspective
Telling them what is in it for them, i.e. the benefits and value that show why they should care about your solution
Saying why they should choose to buy from you, i.e. how you differentiate from your competitors
Giving some proof by using reviews or testimonials to create trust
Remember though that your sales value proposition is of little value unless it connects with the customers business issues or objectives.
Many businesses have found that word of mouth, having a website or printed material has been enough to attract new customers. However, the goal posts keep moving and will continue to do so with BREXIT. From a sales point of view this makes the need to differentiate your business in order to generate more business even more essential. BREXIT will make it more important for companies to come across as trusted advisors or partners. Building up relationships with customers is going to be more vital than ever to sustaining continued growth, both in terms of winning repeat business and in getting referrals to convert to sales.
Need help? andrewdennyconsulting.co.uk/support-packages
Through Pure’s day-to-day recruitment work supporting clients and candidates, the team sees first-hand how employers and HR personnel are adapting and evolving their recruitment approach to suit the current candidate-driven market. Here Gill Buchanan, COO at the professional recruitment specialists, looks at some of the emerging trends and recruitment actions which are becoming a top priority as employers look to compete and stand out.
Employer brand
A LinkedIn survey revealed 75% of applicants now consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job, which is why we are seeing more organisations genuinely investing in creating a strong employer brand based on the company’s vision, values and culture. A commitment to creating an attractive employee value proposition will help businesses to attract, retain and engage the best people. And a strong employer brand now goes beyond just a competitive salary, and even learning and development, career progression and well thought out perks and benefits. There is a growing trend for candidates to also base their decisions on ethical and lifestyle factors including how socially responsible a business is and its workplace environment and culture.
Competitor research
As businesses recognise the significant impact employer brand can have on the ability to recruit the best people, more employers are taking the time to research their industry and local recruitment market to understand how they can compete and stand out. Our expert consultants are regularly asked for advice based on our wealth of experience within our specialist sectors and our knowledge of the Eastern region. Employers are keen to be better equipped to be able to share with candidates what they can offer them in return for their knowledge, experience and expertise, compared to a competitor who may also have made them a job offer.
Flexibility
While offering flexible working opportunities is ultimately part of an employer brand, it is becoming such a competing factor that it warrants a section of its own. People realise that they can still be ambitious without having to be in an office for over 12 hours a day and are looking for roles which can give them the time and flexibility to do things outside of work. Employers are also recognising that they are risking missing out on, or losing top talent from the organisation, if they can’t provide business-suitable flexibility for employees such as return to work parents or those with caring responsibilities.
Recruitment marketing Having researched the market and created an attractive employer brand, more precedent is being put on actively marketing this to both current and future employees. Businesses are promoting themselves as employers people want to work for by communicating their employer brand across multiple channels and in a variety of different, engaging ways. A simple newspaper advert or online advert is unlikely to be enough to stand out, recruitment materials are proactively showcasing company culture and employee value proposition and are backed up with engaging content on dedicated website careers sections, social media activity, employee-related news, blogs and case studies and videos about working for the company.
Employee referrals Another LinkedIn survey revealed that candidates are three times more likely to trust a company’s employees when looking for credible information on what it is like to work there. Employees have always been an organisation’s biggest advocate and more businesses are harnessing this by implementing employee referral schemes, engaging them to provide positive online reviews, featuring real-life employee case studies in print and videos, and enabling employees to act as inspiring role models through work with local schools, colleges and universities.
Strategic recruitment
Rather than potentially competing for talented candidates unnecessarily, businesses are taking a more strategic approach and only going out to market to buy new talent when there is a clear need for immediate, long-term skills and experience. Instead many businesses are planning ahead and using skills audits to identify what they need to meet the company’s goals and looking to build their own talent and expertise from within, or to recruit people they can see potential in and committing to training them to become the full package. Alternatively, they are looking to borrow expertise on a temporary basis, capitalising on the growing gig economy which has opened up the pool of talent available to businesses for short-term projects.
Recruitment speed
Businesses are increasingly conscious that it is often the first organisation to the finish line who will win the race to employ top talent. They are reviewing their recruitment processes to make them as agile, while still effective, as possible and are prioritising time to meet with high-quality candidates rather than risking losing out to a business which has moved faster.
Candidate experience
Organisations are also increasingly reviewing the candidate experience they provide at every stage of the recruitment journey, from initial clear information through to the interview and the communication of final decisions. A company’s preferred candidate is more likely to accept their job offer, over that of a competitor, if they have had a positive experience throughout. Plus any high calibre candidates who were not successful will still view the organisation positively, be more likely to apply again and to recommend the business to others; maintaining the company’s reputation and its ability to attract top talent.
A good recruitment consultant will have their finger on the pulse of the industry they specialise in, and the local market, and will be able to provide valuable insight into any shifting trends. Here at Pure, our expert consultants don’t just support clients in finding the right person for the role they also provide expert market insight, employer branding advice, talent planning support and help to create a positive candidate experience.
For more information or advice about recruitment trends and employer brand please contact your local Pure office.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is used by businesses and companies across the world to get websites ranking higher up Google and other search engines. The ultimate premise is that the more ‘ranking signals’ and ‘ranking factors’ a website satisfies, the higher it will rank online. However, the accepted standard is set by Google, although other search engines like Bing, Yahoo and Baidoo have some of their own specific ranking factors.
When it comes to being found by customers though, targeting the best searches and search terms for your business is really what is key in the first instance. If for example you are selling serviced office spaces and meeting rooms, you wouldn’t attempt to target searches relating to mobile phone cases or mortgages (source: Brentano), as such terms would incorporate far less relevant prospective customers.
Therefore, most businesses will turn to either ‘generic’ or local searches in order to capture the best customers for their business. Generic searches are those that specify the item or service or relevant service area, without specifying geographical areas. Local searches are those which target searches around specific geographical locations.
Generic Targeting
Generally, when you target generic and non-geographical search terms online, you will need to focus on the wider industry or product area. This will all be in addition to the usual Google and search engine factors such as meta data, crawling factors, website speed and performance, website content and others.
For example, in the case of content you will need to think about writing about the things that people will be looking for information around, encompassing the wider industry rather than specific areas and products. You will also not need to spend too much time looking for local and location-limited links. Rather, you will more than likely need to be looking for guide, business and general news-style websites for PR and backlinks.
Local Targeting
When you are trying to locally target specific, local searches, you will need to consider what people in the geographical area are likely to be looking for and what they are likely to want in the case of content. For example, the content on your website will need to be focused on the area and geographical area in question. If you were trying to target ‘estate agents in Westminster’ for example, you would need to look at local area information and statistics when planning the content for your website.
You will also however need to satisfy the generic ranking signals and factors, as they are key to getting your locally targeted content on the radar for search engines. When it comes to links and PR, look at local businesses, local media, newspapers and even ambassadors and councils who may be able to promote you to the local community; this is something search engines notice and should not be overlooked
HMRC have wisely decided to delay the introduction of the much maligned Domestic Reverse Charge.
The DRC, that was due to have a major impact on the way VAT is collected and reported within the building and construction industry from 1st October 2019, has now been postponed by twelve months.
With the uncertainty of Brexit looming and as many as two thirds of businesses within the industry not even aware of the DRC, the delay represents a victory for common sense with many industry representatives having long called for the new legislation to be postponed due to a lack of effective communication from the Revenue.
HMRC claim that they are still committed to the introduction of the DRC, which now comes into effect from 1st October 2020, stating that it will “work closely with the sector to raise awareness and provide additional guidance and support to make sure all businesses will be ready for the new implementation date.”
Despite the industry breathing a collective sigh of relief with the announcement, some businesses will have already spent time and money preparing for the changes, leading no doubt to frustration at the decision that has been made at the eleventh hour.
For more information on the DRC, including news of the delay that was announced last week, visit www.astonshaw.co.uk/drc.
In the recent Court of Appeal case of Okedina v Chikale, it has been confirmed that, in certain circumstances, a contract of employment can still be enforceable where there has been a breach of immigration rules.
Facts
Mrs Okedina and Ms Chikale are both Malawian nationals. Mrs Okedina and her husband have lived in the UK for some time, but had brought Ms Chikale to the UK to work as a live-in domestic worker in July 2013.
Ms Chikale was granted a six-month visa further to Mrs Okedina having applied for a visa on her behalf, based on false information.
When the six-month visa expired, Mrs Okedina kept Ms Chikale’s passport and told her that she would arrange for an extension. Ms Chikale therefore remained in the UK and continued working for Mrs Okedina.
Mrs Okedina’s false application for an extension, forging Ms Chikale’s signature, was refused, as was an appeal, of which Ms Chikale was unaware.
Throughout her employment, Ms Chikale was required to work seven days a week, for very long hours, and was paid only £3,300. Ms Chikale was summarily dismissed and evicted from the house in June 2015, after she requested more money.
Claims
Ms Chikale pursued a number of employment tribunal claims including unfair dismissal, unpaid holiday and unlawful deductions from wages. Mrs Okedina attempted to rely on the ‘illegality defence’ on the basis that Ms Chikale’s contract of employment was unenforceable because it was either illegal or illegally performed since November 2013.
However, judgment was given in Ms Chikale’s favour at both employment tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal level. Mrs Okedina therefore appealed to the Court of Appeal, but was unsuccessful.
Appeal
The Court of Appeal noted that there are two forms of illegality which may have resulted in the contract being unenforceable:
1) statutory illegality
2) common law illegality.
Statutory illegality
The Court considered whether Ms Chikale’s contract was unenforceable because her employment was in breach of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 (“The Act”). Given that The Act does not prohibit a person from employing someone in breach of immigration restrictions, but provides for civil and criminal penalties to be imposed instead, the Court concluded that an innocent employee without the appropriate immigration status should not be deprived of their ability to claim.
Common law illegality
The Court decided that Ms Chikale did not knowingly participate in the illegal performance of her contract in view of the fact that she relied on Mrs Okedina to deal with her visa situation, that Mrs Okedina used false information, that Ms Chikale did not sign the false extension application form and that Mrs Okedina kept Ms Chikale away from the immigration appeal hearing. The contract therefore could not be rendered unenforceable at common law.
Conclusion
This claim was very specific to the facts eg the innocence of Ms Chikale in the circumstances, which may not always be the case. However, there are additional situations in which a person may not be aware that they are working illegally, such as employees of large companies which take responsibility for obtaining the necessary permissions for foreign employees or victims of trafficking.
Carla Gowing is a Norwich Employment Solicitor. For advice or to arrange an initial meeting, call 01603 660 811 or email carlagowing@hatchbrenner.co.uk
In the age of smartphones, which generally tend to have recording facilities, it is not unusual for employees to covertly record internal meetings, including grievance meetings or disciplinary hearings.
The recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) judgment in Phoenix House v Stockman has addressed whether covert recordings by employees automatically amount to gross misconduct. However, it is also useful for employers to understand whether covert recordings are admissible as evidence against them within employment tribunal claims.
Admissibility
Employers often assume that a covert recording by an employee cannot be used against them. However, the parts of the meeting where the employee was present can be admissible before an employment tribunal if the employment tribunal believes it is relevant. This is entirely at the discretion of the employment tribunal.
In addition, whilst a covert recording of any private discussions of an employer’s disciplinary or grievance panel generally cannot be put before an employment tribunal on the grounds of public policy, the employment tribunal may adopt a different view where a claim involves (for example) discrimination and the recording of private deliberations potentially evidences this.
Misconduct
In Phoenix House v Stockman the EAT confirmed that whilst it will generally amount to misconduct for an employee not to inform an employer that a recording is being made, all the circumstances will need to be considered, including the employee’s reason for making a secret recording, the employer’s position regarding covert recordings and any damage done to the employer as a result of information being recorded without its knowledge, before it can be concluded that a recording amounts to gross misconduct.
The judgment
In this particular case, the EAT decided that the recording did not amount to gross misconduct because the employee had not recorded the meeting with the intention of entrapment, but simply for her own records.
Guidance
It is of course good practice for parties to communicate an intention to record a meeting, however, it is possible that this will not always be the case. Before concluding that an employee is guilty of gross misconduct upon the discovery of covert recording, employers should therefore consider:
The nature of the information recorded – is it confidential?
The purpose of the recording – is this simply to assist the employee’s recollection at a later date, is it to avoid the risk of misrepresentation, is it to enable an employee to obtain subsequent legal advice or is it entrapment?
The extent of the employee’s blameworthiness – was the employee warned not to make a recording and/or have they lied about doing so?
Any evidence of the attitude of the employer to such conduct – does the disciplinary policy address the issue?
In view of the final point above, it is advisable for employers to update their disciplinary policy in order to confirm that covert recording is an example of gross misconduct.
Carla Gowing is an Employment Solicitor at Hatch Brenner on Theatre Street in Norwich. Call 01603 660 811 or email carlagowing@hatchbrenner.co.uk