Often the frustrating thing is that these situations never needed to get to this stage and could have been addressed months earlier.
With further changes to employment rights coming into force over the next few months, including strengthened sexual harassment protections from October and a planned reduction in the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal from two years to six months from January 2027 there is plenty for employers to be thinking about, but Anthony Sutton Director of Cream HR knows that there is more to good HR than keeping up with legislation.
Here are the top five things he wishes employers would do sooner.
1. Have the difficult conversation
This is the top one.A manager knows someone isn’t performing as they should, two colleagues clearly aren’t getting on, or an employee’s behaviour is causing concern, but they might keep hoping the situation will somehow resolve itself. Let’s be clear, usually, it doesn’t.
Avoiding a difficult conversation doesn’t make the issue disappear. It often gives it time to grow, while frustration builds on both sides. That doesn’t mean every conversation needs to become a formal disciplinary process. Sometimes a straightforward, respectful conversation early on is exactly what’s needed.
The sooner something is addressed, the more options you normally have for resolving it.
2. Don’t wait until someone hands in their notice to ask why they’re unhappy
Exit interviews can tell you why somebody has left but wouldn’t it be better to find out if they’re unhappy while they’re still there?
Employers should be having regular, meaningful conversations with their team about what’s working, what’s not and what they need. Not every employee who raises an issue is about to leave. And not every problem can or should be fixed, but if several people are telling you the same thing, it’s worth listening.
Retention isn’t just about salaries and perks. People want to feel valued, supported, listened to and able to have honest conversations at work.
3. Give managers the confidence to manage people
One of the biggest misconceptions about management is that being good at your job automatically makes you good at managing other people.It doesn’t. Often people are promoted to managers because they are good at their job not because they are good at managing people.
Managers need support and training in areas such as giving feedback, handling conflict, managing performance and recognising when an issue needs HR input. Too often, HR gets called in when something has already gone badly wrong.
Anthony Sutton says : “As an HR professional I’d much rather be involved earlier than later helping a manager have the right conversation. You don’t have to wait for a grievance, disciplinary or employment tribunal claim to ask whether you’re handling something correctly. The best time to deal with a workplace problem is usually before it becomes a workplace problem.on or put the right process in place as opposed to trying to untangle something that has been allowed to escalate.”
4. Don’t treat policies as something you only look at when there’s a problem
A policy sitting in an employee handbook isn’t much use if nobody understands it. Employers should regularly be checking whether their policies still reflect how their organisation actually operates, not how it used to operate or how they wish it operated but how it is day to day. It is also important to know whether managers and employees know what they’re there for.
This is particularly important as employment law continues to change, for example, employers are preparing for strengthened duties around preventing sexual harassment from October 2026, while other employment-rights changes are being phased in over 2026 and 2027. Compliance shouldn’t be a once-a-year panic when a new rule comes in. It should be part of good business practice.
5. Ask for help before you think you need it
There can still be a perception that HR is something you bring in when there’s a problem, but HR can be just as valuable when things are going well.
An external HR adviser can give a business a sounding board, sense-check a difficult situation, help managers develop their skills or simply provide an objective perspective when you’re too close to an issue yourself.
The employment landscape is changing, but employers don’t need to wait for the next piece of legislation to tell them what good people management looks like.
Listen earlier. Talk sooner. Support managers. Deal with problems while they’re still manageable,because from an HR perspective, prevention is almost always easier than repair.
To find out more about Cream HR visit www.creamhr.com