At Manchester Digital, we like to interview our members to find out a bit more about what they do and their work in the Greater Manchester digital and technology sphere. This week we're speaking with Ward Hadaway.
Firstly, can you explain who you are:
Ward Hadaway is a UK top 100 law firm with a proven track record of supporting tech companies at all stages of their growth journey. From our offices in Manchester, we support ambitious start-ups to established PLCs and international operators, providing comprehensive legal expertise tailored to your specific needs.
Secondly, What do you do?
We understand the unique challenges and opportunities faced by businesses in the tech sector. Our dedicated team of tech-savvy lawyers brings decades of combined experience to the table, advising on a wide range of issues including:
- Contract advice
- Intellectual Property and Trademarks
- Employment
- Immigration
- Data Privacy and Security
- Company law
- Corporate and Investments
- Property
- Dispute Resolution and Litigation
- Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI)
How do you work?
We take a commercial and pragmatic approach, focusing on delivering clear, actionable advice that aligns with your specific goals and budget. We prioritise understanding your business thoroughly, allowing us to assemble the best team of legal specialists to meet your unique needs.
What are some of the most common questions or legal issues that arise from your tech clients regarding employment and HR issues?
In our experience, tech companies are currently navigating a whole host of HR challenges: from supporting employee wellbeing and dealing with employee burnout; to remote onboarding and performance management; to the ever present war for talent and retention; to the struggle to promote EDI in the workplace by increasing representation amongst female and BAME candidates. Inclusivity, health and wellbeing and flexible ways of working are key priorities for our tech clients not only to attract and retain talent but also to help prevent against high sickness absence rates and burnout.
We advise tech sector businesses on all of these issues and how to promote their company values driven through a culture of an inclusivity, allyship and alignment amongst the workforce.
Workplace surveillance and threats to cyber security are increasingly high on our clients' radar. It is important for tech employers to understand what their rights are in respect of surveillance and employee monitoring and also, what their limits are. Cyber security is of considerable importance to all businesses and much of this responsibility to protect the business falls on its employees. Tech employers must therefore ensure their policies and contracts are strong enough from the inside out.
We help Tech businesses protect and retain one of their greatest assets – their people. This includes:
- Advising on employment contracts and terms of employment.
- Advising on policies and procedures to make sure they stay compliant with the law.
- Supporting them with advancing your Equality Diversity & Inclusion agenda.
- Advising on specific legal protections for your business – including post termination restrictions for when employees leave, confidentiality provisions and terms to protect their intellectual property.
- Helping them manage day to day employment issues like dealing with grievances, disciplinaries or managing performance or absence – no matter how large or small their workforce.
- Helping them avoid and defend employment claims if they arise (such as unfair dismissal, constructive dismissal or discrimination).
- Helping them with recruitment and retention of non-UK national staff using the UK's immigration system to ensure they have access to the best global talent, irrespective of nationality.
- For SMEs, we offer fixed fee support packages in relation to day to day employment law advice, along with optional insurance to protect against the risk of claims from employees.
- What recent updates in data privacy laws, remote work policies, or anti-discrimination policies should tech companies have on their radar right now from an employment law perspective?
Employment law is a fast moving area with rapid changes and developments. There are a raft of changes to family friendly legislation due to come into force in April 2024. Tech businesses need to review their policies to make sure they remain fit for purpose and protect their business in light of these changes. We help support businesses to remain legally compliant following any legislative changes or the effect of key cases by drafting and amending policies and procedures and providing practical training to embed the policies into their culture,
EDI remains a very hot topic, with claims and disputes surrounding gender equality and employee wellbeing on the rise. In addition, at the moment there is an increasing number of tribunal claims arising as a result of remote working arrangements. Given the rise and rise of hybrid working, tribunal claims arising from this issue have increased by 50% from 2021 to 2022, and there is every expectation that the number of claims will continue to rise.
Tech businesses should also be keeping a close eye on political developments over the next few months. With a pending General Election and the possibility of a change in Government, they would be well advised to keep a watching brief on the Labour party's manifesto. Currently, the Labour party has proposed a number of highly significant changes to the employment law landscape, including "Day 1" protection from unfair dismissal. If elected, these proposals would fundamentally transform the employment law landscape. Businesses should be making contingency plans for these changes becoming effective.
As tech companies hire more remote workers or distributed global teams, what HR processes should they consider reviewing to reduce legal risks?
Where teams are distributed globally, there is multitude of additional risk compared with a business that operates in one jurisdiction. Businesses risk severe consequences where employees work globally without a proper legal framework in place. Firstly, employers must ensure that employment contracts align with the local legal requirements. Depending on the jurisdiction, termination clauses, paid leave and statutory rights are just some of the clauses that are likely to differ from the laws of England and Wales. Employers will likely have problems trying to enforce employment contracts that are not drafted by local lawyers. HR departments should therefore ensure that local lawyers are instructed to advise at the outset and continue to take advice throughout the time that the business operates outside of England and Wales. They will also need to make sure that remote workers have the proper immigration permission to work in their chosen jurisdiction.
In addition, remote working may give rise to other consequences in relation to local tax and social security contributions. These can be significant and businesses should take advice on these issues at an early stage to pre-empt any potential problems down the line.
Practically, there are also a number of issues to consider with remote working and globally distributed teams, such as how any time differences will be addressed and data security when transferring information between jurisdictions.
If you had to highlight 3 core areas a scaling tech company should prioritise from an employment law standpoint, what would they be and why?
1. Protect your business. As your business scales, it is important that you ensure you have put in place proper legal protections to protect your staff and the value they create in your business. For example, are you clear about the status of your staff? Do you have any consultants or are they all employees? What happens if they leave – have you thought about the notice periods that they (and you) have to give? What about post termination restrictions? Do you need to include provisions to prevent them from trying to steal your customers/clients after they leave? Is your intellectual property properly protected? What provisions have you put in place for dealing with poor performance, long term sickness absence etc? In a small business, many of these issues can be dealt with on an "as needed" basis, but as the number of employees increases, it is more and more important that there are clearly documented and defined contractual terms, policies and procedures to avoid any misunderstanding or disputes. These should be put in place before employees start work and be clearly communicated and understood by all staff.
2. Winning the war for talent. You will want to think about a strategy for recruiting the best talent in your sector. As part of this, you may want to consider how you will maximise local and national hiring strategies, along with whether there is a need to hire skilled workers from overseas. You will want to make sure that your recruitment policies and documentation comply with your legal obligations, to avoid any claims, particularly in relation to discrimination and the prevention of illegal working. Where you are looking at recruiting non-UK nationals, you should take advice regarding the immigration options available to you, for example consider whether you should be looking at taking advantage of the Skilled Worker visa route or other options, such as the graduate visa for recently graduating international students.
3. Prioritise employee engagement and retention. As your business scales, you will want to consider ways of incentivising and engaging with key staff. This might be in the form of a tailored package of benefits or particular policies addressing important issues such as wellbeing and gender equality, to make you stand out as an employer of choice in a highly competitive market. You will need to make sure you have complied with your legal obligations when doing so and that they are carefully and clearly documented. You will also want to look at ways of engaging and empowering key hires and the future leaders with a view to succession planning and securing the long term future of your business.
For examples of the work we have done for our clients within the digital and tech sector, please see here
