APA on 'Settlement Agreements'

APA has responded to the Government’s announcement on 'Settlement Agreements' suggesting it is a better option than others proposed but still no substitute for good business management or basic common decency

APA believes the government's proposal on 'Settlement Agreements'; as a method of releasing underperforming employees, merits careful consideration. Plans are still sketchy; with work still to be done, and will need to be studied hard when government publishes details of how it will work in practice.

Gareth Osborne says: “We agree with CIPD when it stresses that it is imperative that settlement agreements should be used to encourage better and more consistent performance management by employers, not as a substitute for it. It is important that the government exercises its duty of care to employers by not overselling or oversimplifying what it is doing here. Employers need to understand that settlement agreements tabled in the context of without prejudice conversations will do nothing to protect them from discrimination or constructive dismissal claims if they act improperly.

"In the final analysis, the simple message for employers is that, with or without 'settlement agreements' there is no substitute for good performance management. Get that right, and there is no reason under the existing law why you can't remove underperforming employees and replace them with the ones you need to drive your business forward.

As the great Jim Collins (author: Good to Great), a hero amongst APA trainers, said: You get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats”.

APA