Proposed changes could benefit businesses of all sizes, says SaBRE’s Tim Corry
The government recently announced some significant changes to the Armed Forces. They plan to increase the number of trained reservists by some 19,000 which will have a natural knock-on effect on employers.
To make this successful, the government plans to create a new open relationship based on better communication and mutual benefits. Sounds good, but will it deliver?
The government has introduced a series of initiatives that they hope will make the process of employing a reservist easier. They understand that accommodating a period of mobilisation can be tougher for smaller businesses, so they will be giving SMEs (firms with less than 250 employees) £500 for each month that a reservist employee is away on a tour of duty.
Research by the Federation of Small Businesses shows this may prove popular. In a survey among their members earlier this year, 86 per cent said that any government support to businesses employing reservists should focus on the specific needs of small and micro firms, rather than big business.
However, all sizes of employers will benefit from many of the other changes. In future, employers will be notified well in advance of upcoming training events and will be given several months’ notice of mobilisation where possible, which will help both employer and reservist to plan more easily.
There are also some new protections for reservists that employers need to take note of, such as legislation in the pipeline to make sure that a reservist doesn’t need to wait until completing the full two years’ service with their employer before they are able to bring an unfair dismissal case before an employment tribunal. However, it is important to note that this will apply only in cases where a reservist feels the reason for their dismissal is related to their reserve service.
The government wants to make employing reservists mutually beneficial, which means employers should get something out of the arrangement too. They are investigating whether military training that is directly transferrable to the civilian sector can be recognised formally with well-known industry standards and trade bodies.
This should prove to be quite valuable, as research by SaBRE (endorsed by the Chartered Management Institute) found that an employer would have to purchase more than £8,000 of commercial civilian training to provide the same amount of development that an average reservist’s military service provides in a year (this research relates only to the skills that are relevant to the civilian workplace).
These are just some of the initiatives stemming from the Reserves in the Future Force 2020 white paper. Once in place, they could make the difference between employers wanting to support their reservist employees and being able to do so.
More information on employing reservists can be found on the SaBRE website.
Tim Corry is director of SaBRE (Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers), an MOD funded organisation created to support and provide information to employers of reservists.