The research by Attest market research for HR and employment law specialist Peninsula showed that many business owners thought that the human resource management method – Bradford factor stood for the best singer in Bradford instead of a means of measuring worker absenteeism. And, a number of business owners thought that ‘SSP’ stood for ‘strong and stable professionalism’ instead of of ‘statutory sick pay’. 

Confusing jargon

Alan Price, HR Director at Peninsula said: ‘Employment law is full of legal abbreviations and jargon that can be very confusing. When a small business owner is trying to cover many aspects of a company simultaneously, they may come across terminology they don’t recognise or understand; this can lead to incorrect processes being followed with potential costly results for the business.’

Employment law constantly evolving

He added: ‘From this research, we can see it is a necessity that every business has employment law and HR support in some form as any business that has employees will inevitably have these considerations. Employment law is constantly evolving and covers a huge range of different legislations and acts in relation to the rights of employees, including gender discrimination, minimum wage increases and health and safety to name but a few. Keeping up with these changes can be hard for a business with no employment law/HR function however lack of knowledge of the law is no defence and can lead to devastating consequences for a business.’ 

'Clean bill of legal health' needed

He went on to say that in these challenging and unstable economic times businesses need to run efficiently and effectively in order to survive and grow. ‘It is more important than ever to make sure they have a clean bill of legal health. This means keeping on top of employment legislation and jargon as well as having the relevant support around you.’