Feature Articles

An EAP — an employee assistance programme — is one of the benefits that can be offered to employees to support them in challenging times. But how much do employee assistance programmes cost, and are they worth it?

Rebecca Fisk advises on encouraging children in focusing attention, both visual and auditory, so as to develop early communication and language skills. This can be used in your communications to support parents managing children at home.

An empty property can quite easily go from being an asset to a liability as such buildings are prime targets for anti-social behaviour. Laura King reviews some of the latest statistics and considers the options for protecting vacant sites from unwanted visitors.

As the pandemic continues, employees may be struggling with their mental health, especially if they are working from home for the first time. Ben McCarthy, lead researcher and employment law writer at Croner-i, outlines ways of tackling this issue.

This article was written on 23 March and is based on guidance that was in place on that date. The Government has subsequently amended and clarified its guidance meaning that some features of this article may not be up to date. See our article Furlough and the Job Retention Scheme Q&As for up to date information on the Job Retention Scheme.

A great deal of general and educational sector-specific safe working advice is already available online. However, as circumstances evolve and official information is updated continuously, new guidance has been released about safeguarding young people at school, college or home. Jon Herbert highlights the relevant sources and looks at the guidance in more detail.

Recent events have brought the GDPR back on to the agenda as the implications of how organisations are going to be expected to deal with the current COVID-19 epidemic have become apparent. There will clearly be a necessity for employers to ensure that the risk of infection to their staff, customers and the general public is minimised. At the same time they must be aware that the information they are collecting during this process can have significant privacy consequences.

Since the country went into lockdown, those who can be working from home should be doing so. There are many short and long-term benefits to this move but employers must not forget their legally binding health and safety responsibilities. Jon Herbert reports.

Laura King advises on the practical precautions organisations should take to manage their activities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a medical term used to describe a range of developmental conditions which begin in childhood and affect the way a child communicates and relates to others, as Martin Hodgson explains.