Lucy Fitzgerald

Following a career as an HR leader for a number of high profile companies and organisations, Lucy channelled her knowledge and experience into setting up FitzgeraldHR in 2008. With a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management, Lucy is MCIPD qualified and has worked in the field of HR for over 15 years. Lucy has substantial experience in all areas of HR including strategic planning and trouble shooting, employment law, talent management, coaching and advising. She divides her time between Head Office, the regional offices, and supporting and overseeing clients nationwide. Lucy also runs HRtalk, a group set up for SME business owners and employees with HR responsibility that runs regular free sessions to offer support and guidance on a range of HR topics. You can find Lucy on Google+ and LinkedIn. Also, visit our company pages: Google+, facebook, twitter and LinkedIn.

The benefits of NLP

August 6th 2020September 25th 2012 by Lucy Fitzgerald

Neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, was developed in the 1970s by two Americans – a mathematician called Richard Bandler, and a linguist called John Grinder.

The two men shared an interest in psychotherapy and jointly developed a model based on the idea that linguistic patterns held the key to transformational psychotherapy. In other words, if you could understand and model the effects of language, you could then adjust those models to create new behaviours. The two men referred to this idea of creating strategies as ‘programming’.

Today NLP is an enormously popular and influential set of tools and techniques designed to improve communication, and to help people understand how and why we behave the way we do.

In business, NLP is often used to help employees build rapport with colleagues, clients and potential customers. It can also be used as a self-development tool, boosting positive thinking and confidence.

Qualifying period for unfair dismissal (and written reasons for dismissal) to be increased

August 5th 2020March 10th 2012 by Lucy Fitzgerald

The qualifying period for an employee to bring an unfair dismissal claim will increase from one year to two years on 6 April 2012.

The Government have introduced this to “provide more time for employers and employees to resolve difficulties, give employers greater confidence in taking on people and ease the burden on the employment tribunal process” (Resolving workplace disputes: public consultation BIS website)

The increase will apply only to employees who join your organisation on or after 6 April 2012. The current one-year qualifying period will continue to apply to employees who started their employment prior to 6 April 2012.

Dealing effectively with poor performance at work: a quick guide

September 15th 2020December 6th 2011 by Lucy Fitzgerald

Grab a copy of our free Capability Policy and Procedure to help you deal effectively with poor performance.

The Bribery Act 2010 – What it Means for You

August 5th 2020July 14th 2011 by Lucy Fitzgerald

These days we’re all too aware of allegations of bribery and corruption in the business world, most recently from the Fifa scandal that continues to rumble on.

With effect from from the 1^st July 2011 The Bribery Act 2010 came into force across the UK.

So what does this mean for you?

A quick overview of the Bribery Act

The purpose of the Act is to stamp out bribery and corruption in the workplace. There are three principal offences under the Act, which are:

Offering or receiving a bribe
Bribing a foreign public official
Failing to prevent a bribe being paid on an organisation’s behalf.

Offering or receiving a bribe

Under the Act it is an offence to offer or give a financial or other advantage to someone else for the purpose of influencing them to perform their relevant function or activity improperly or as a reward for something they have already done.

By ‘improper’ the Act means performing in a way which goes against good faith, impartially or in accordance with a position of trust. A common sense approach is necessary when deciding if performance has been improper, particularly when it comes to existing hospitality arrangements.

How to Handle Requests for Paternity Leave

August 6th 2020April 27th 2011 by Lucy Fitzgerald

New legislation, introduced in April 2011, introduced the right to Additional Paternity Leave (APL). Here’s some guidance on how you can now handle requests for paternity leave.

An employee is eligible for paternity leave if he or she has been employed by your organisation for 26 continuous weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth. Or, for adoption paternity leave, by the end of the week in which the child’s adopter is notified of being matched with a child.

An employee who meets these requirements is also eligible for additional paternity leave (up to 26 weeks) if the baby is due on or after 3 April 2011, or is placed for adoption on or after this date.

The employee must also have (or expect to have) responsibility for the upbringing of the child (if the father), or the main responsibility (if the mother’s husband or partner – including same-sex couples).

Phasing Out the Default Retirement Age

August 6th 2020March 15th 2011 by Lucy Fitzgerald

With effect from 6 April 2011, the current Default Retirement Age (DRA) of 65 years is being phased out over a transitional period running until 30 September 2011.

At present, employers are required to write to employees not more than 12 months, but not less than six months, before their 65th birthday informing them that they are approaching retirement and making them aware that they are allowed to request to work beyond their retirement date.

From 6 April 2011 employers will no longer be able to issue any notifications for compulsory retirement using this process.

The last day employees can be compulsorily retired using the current procedure is 30 September 2011. This means the last day to provide six months’ notice, as required by the current procedure is 30 March 2011.

The Equality Act 2010

February 8th 2023September 23rd 2010 by Lucy Fitzgerald

Reviews the main provisions of the Equality Act 2010 and how they affect organisations.

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