Our experienced Employment lawyers work with HR directors, boards and legal and compliance teams on strategic governance issues such as data protection, modern slavery, and gender pay gap reporting, diversity and inclusion strategies and corporate governance and regulatory obligations, such as the Senior Managers' and Certification Regime.
Businesses are grappling with increasing levels of regulation, such as gender pay gap and modern slavery reporting, while having an effective HR strategy has never been more important. We help our clients through this maze.
With an increasing volume of regulation and investors and consumers alike paying much more attention to how businesses treat their workforces, HR strategy has surged up the corporate agenda. We work with our clients on all aspects of workforce governance and strategic planning. We also frequently advise international businesses setting up in the UK
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is a major priority for many of our clients. We advise them on putting effective D&I strategies in place and how to align with best practice. Workforce (in)equality is increasingly exposing businesses to public scrutiny, with gender pay gap and pay ratio reporting in the public domain (soon to be followed by ethnic pay gap reporting). Sexual harassment allegations, and their impact on the valuation of a business, are also becoming a material concern in the due diligence process on sales and acquisitions. We advise clients on how to comply with their obligations, how to present their results and strategies for reducing under-representation at senior levels and manage any allegations of misconduct effectively.
Meanwhile, the advent of the GDPR (with its stringent penalties for breach) has focused attention on data protection compliance. Together with our specialist Data Protection and Privacy team, we advise our clients on all aspects of workforce privacy, including the implications of profiling, monitoring and AI.
With the rise of ethical investors and pressure from consumers and campaign groups, human rights have become an issue of corporate governance. We advise our clients on all aspects of modern slavery, from the reporting obligations to how to take effective measures to reduce their supply chain risks, in line with international frameworks.
Compliance is a particularly hot topic for listed businesses and regulated firms, including financial services. We advise them on relevant aspects of corporate governance, workforce compliance, including the Remuneration Codes, Senior Managers and Certification Regime, Conduct Rules and regulatory references, as well as voluntary schemes such as the Women in Finance Charter.
Although the issues are complex, our advice is straightforward, practical and effective.
