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Andrew Willshire and Adam Wheal | 27th February 2023

Disability Discrimination Podcast

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Andrew Willshire and Adam Wheal | 27th February 2023

Disability Discrimination Podcast

The Disability Discrimination Podcast is your essential resource for staying informed on the latest issues in disability discrimination in the workplace. On this podcast, legal experts Andrew Willshire and Adam Wheal discuss the unique challenges faced by disabled individuals, while providing practical advice on diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the workplace.

Don’t miss out on this valuable platform for professionals seeking to create more equitable workplaces. Tune in now to stay up-to-date on disability discrimination issues in the workplace!

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Danielle Taylor | 4th November 2022

Legal Mythbusting : The Decree Absolute

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Danielle Taylor | 4th November 2022

Legal Mythbusting : The Decree Absolute

00:35 Dani talks through the four stages to a divorce proceeding: divorce petition, acknowledgement of service form, decree nisi, and decree absolute
00:17 Dani explains how long a divorce normally takes
01:41 Is Decree Absolute the end? Dani talks through what the decree absolute does not cover
02:03 What happens if couples come to an amicable agreement between themselves? Dani discusses how informal agreements do not prevent a financial remedy application being made and what you should do in this situation
03:27 What are the legal implications if one party re-marries?
03:50 What happens when divorce is based on 2 or 5 year separation?
04:15 The timing of decree absolute, how will this affect you financially? Dani discusses wills, death of a spouse and pension payments
06:41 Reasons you might delay Decree Absolute
06:55 How does Decree Absolute your matrimonial home right?

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Charlotte Farrell and Ryan Mitchell | 27th October 2022

Subject Access Request

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Charlotte Farrell and Ryan Mitchell | 27th October 2022

Subject Access Request

The Paris Smith Employment Podcast is a regular podcast that discusses all things related to employment law. The podcast is hosted by Charlotte Farrell and Ryan Mitchell, both are lawyers at Paris Smith LLP. In today’s episode, they discuss subject access requests and the key things businesses need to know about them. The GDPR was introduced in 2018 and has led to individuals becoming much more aware of their rights regarding their personal data. As a result, Paris Smith has seen more people making subject access requests.

You can find out more info here: https://parissmith.co.uk/your-business/commercial-law/data-protection-and-gdpr/


01:00:00 – The right to access personal data held by organisations is a legal right given to individuals.

02:00:00 – Personal data is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual.

06:30:00 – Anonymised data can be excluded from a subject access request.

07:00:00 – Subject access requests are being used more often as a way to find information for employment tribunal claims.

07:54:00 – The main use for subject access requests in a commercial setting is to upgrade complaints to “super complaints.”

09:00:00 – The main points to consider when dealing with a subject access request are verifying the requester’s identity, diarising key dates, and trying to locate the requested information.

11:17:00 – Subject access requests are usually free, except for when they are excessive. If someone refuses to pay or withdraws their request, businesses may have trouble recovering costs.

13:38:00 – The business doesn’t have to send everything to the individual who they find. Someone needs to go through it and identify any documents which don’t need to be disclosed.

15:00:00 – Organisations need to include a cover letter with personal data when sending it to someone in response to a subject access request.

16:20:00 – Employees use subject access requests to check their personal data is being processed correctly and tactically.

18:16:00 – The government is proposing to decrease the threshold for an organisation being able to refuse to respond to a subject access request, or to be able to charge a reasonable fee.

19:19:00 – The word vexatious could potentially help to stop requests where the person is only using it to cause trouble for their employer or ex-employer.

19:50:00 – The top tip for dealing with subject access requests is to have a written procedure and use systems which allow for personal data to be easily searched, reviewed and extracted.

21:07:00 – HR and line managers should train all staff on the GDPR and data protection issues, including subject access requests. Staff should be aware of what they can and cannot do with personal information. Deleted emails are still searchable.

23:25:00 – The risks of getting subject access requests wrong include complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office and investigations which can lead to instructions on how to correct procedures.

Transcript

Welcome to the latest edition of the Paris Smith Employment Podcast.

I’m Charlotte Farrell and for today’s podcast we are very pleased to also welcome a guest from our commercial team, our colleague Ryan Mitchell.

We regularly work alongside Ryan on all things GDPR and data protection related and today we’re delighted that he’s joined us to discuss subject access requests and the key things businesses need to know about them. With the arrival of the GDPR in 2018, data protection and the rights of individuals when it comes to their personal data has come to the forefront of many people’s minds.

We are definitely finding that individuals are much more aware of their rights when it comes to how their personal data is handled and we have seen an increase in people, not just employees, bringing subject access requests against business. This brings with it many practical issues need to bear in mind when carrying out their day to day tasks.

So today we’re going to look at some of these issues, not only from the employment angle but also the general issues businesses should be aware of.

So I suppose the first thing we should talk about is what a subject access request is. Ryan, can you give us a brief overview of what a subject access request is.

Of course! A subject access request is a request by an individual (which can be verbal, in writing or via an automated system) to receive copies of the personal information which an organisation holds about them. We call that personal information ‘personal data’.

When making a subject access request, the individual can also ask for additional information about how and why the organisation uses their personal data.

Individuals have a legal right to make subject access requests. This is called the ‘right of access’. It’s a right which is specifically set out in data protection law. Because it’s a legal right, organisations have a legal duty to respond to a subject access request, subject to some very limited exceptions which we’ll come on to.

So it’s a really broad right in that case then which can be very time consuming for a business to comply with. When you say, “personal data” or personal information, what does that cover. Is it any time that someone’s name is mentioned or is it more limited?

So ‘personal data’ means any information that relates to an identified or identifiable living individual. That individual is called the “data subject” in data protection speak.

To work out whether a piece of information is classified as ‘personal data’ it’s helpful to ask two questions:

1. Does the information identify a living individual? The information could be identifying on its own, for example a person’s name. Alternatively, it might be possible to combine this piece of information with other information the organisation holds (or may in the future hold) in order to identify someone. For example, an employee number can be combined with HR records to work out which specific individual in the business has that employee number.

If we’re combining information to identify a person then we call that ‘indirectly’ identifying personal data. If it’s obvious from the piece of information alone who the person is then it’s ‘directly’ identifying personal data.

2. The second question we need to ask ourselves is whether the information ‘relates to’ the individual. It’s not enough just to be able to identify the individual from the information. The information must ‘concern’ the individual in some way.

Let’s take two examples: the statement “Joe Bloggs lives at 15 Beachcroft Road” and a personnel file note that says “Mary Stewart is dishonest and I think she has been stealing from us”. These are both pieces of personal data. We know this because:

The answer to our first question – does the information identify a living individual – is yes. Each of these two statements contains the individual’s name, meaning they are directly identified.

The answer to our second question – does the information relate to the individual – is also yes. The statement about Joe Bloggs’ address relates to where he lives. The note about Mary relates to her work performance and her integrity as an employee.

Because these are statements containing each individual’s personal data, they would need to be disclosed following a subject access request.

However, let’s take another example. Say we have hundreds of work emails with Joe Bloggs’ name on where the content of the email doesn’t relate to Joe Bloggs as an individual. In that situation, Joe Bloggs’ name and email address on those emails would identify him (so the answer to our first question is ‘yes’) but these pieces of information don’t actually ‘relate to’ Joe (so the answer to our second question is ‘no). Rather, they’re just a record of who sent or received the emails. In this scenario, the emails wouldn’t need to be disclosed in response to a subject access request. The situation would be different if the substance of the emails did actually relate to Joe. For example, because they discussed his performance at work.

The second question, of whether information ‘relates to’ an individual, can lead to some grey areas. When these types of questions arise, a good starting point would be the ICO’s guidance (available online at www.ico.org.uk). The guidance includes a number of worked examples which are really helpful.

But what if the data is anonymised, does it still count as personal data then?

No – if the data is anonymised then isn’t treated as personal data. This is because it doesn’t identify a living individual. Provided you’re confident that the data is truly anonymised, it can be excluded from a subject access request.

Thanks Ryan for that very clear explanation. For three little words the process actually has some quite big implications and many businesses don’t understand that until they have to deal with it in practice themselves. We have definitely found over recent months and particularly since 2018 and the introduction of the GDPR that individuals are much quicker to make a subject access request and much more aware of what thy should be sent. Even though it wasn’t what the process was set up for, we’ve always seen them used in the employment world as a fishing expedition to see if there is are any juicy documents that its worth using to start a tribunal claim. If anything that has got worse since the GDPR.

Ryan, are there any particular ways that you regularly see them used in the purely commercial setting by clients or customers of business?

In a similar vein, we sometimes see customers make subject access requests if there’s a dispute. It’s a very easy way for an individual to upgrade their complaint to a ‘super complaint’ which can take a lot of time and sometimes money to respond to.

The main protection against these sorts of complaints is to have a good subject access procedure in place in readiness. When choosing new IT systems, it’s also a good idea to think about how easy it will be to search for personal data and extract it from the new system if a subject access request is received. This thought process when choosing or developing new systems is known as ‘privacy by design’.

Ok so I think it makes sense to now touch on the process a business should follow if someone makes a subject access request. If someone makes a subject access request there are key steps to take:

Firstly, always check the identify of the person making the request to make sure that it isn’t someone trying to commit fraud. If it’s an employee or someone the business knows personally you can speak to them to check the request came from them. Otherwise you can ask for ID such as a passport or drivers licence or copy of a bill to check the request is legitimate.

Secondly, make sure you diarise the key dates. Since the introduction of the GDPR you have 1 month to process the request. This can be extended by a further two months if the request is particular large or complex. If that’s the case you have to update the person and tell them that you need more time with the first one month time frame so make sure those dates go in the diary and don’t leave dealing with the request until the last minute. In some cases it can take a long time to go through all the documents produced so it’s worth starting early!

Thirdly, always check that the subject access request makes sense and that you understand what they’re asking for. if not you can go back to them to clarify the request and ask them to provide more information. The ICO doesn’t like companies that always ask for clarification though so make sure there is a legitimate reason for asking. The clock stops while you’re waiting to hear back from the person so this can be helpful when the request is very big.

Once you know what is being asked for the business must make reasonable efforts to find the information that was requested. They don’t have to conduct searches which would be unreasonable or disproportionate but will need to explain what searches they have done and why. It might involve searching servers, data bases, email folders and paper filing systems.

Ryan do you want to tell us a bit more about the costs of a subject access request.

Yes of course. So normally a business can’t charge someone if they make a subject access request – there used to be a £10 admin fee but that doesn’t exist anymore.

Now, the only times a business can charge for responding to a subject access request is if:
1. the request is ‘manifestly unfounded’ or ‘excessive’; or
2. the organisation is being asked to provide copies of information which the individual already has.

In either of these scenarios the organisation can charge a ‘reasonable fee’. Alternatively, if the request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’ then the organisation can refuse to process the request altogether.

If you’re thinking of trying to charge the individual then it would be sensible to double-check with them that they still want to proceed, before carrying out any activities which you would look to charge for. If the individual refuses to pay, and you’ve already incurred the costs, then you may struggle to recover the money. If the individual withdraws their request, or part of their request, then you’ve saved the effort and cost of having to respond to it.

Additionally, we’d always recommend taking advice if you suspect a request is ‘manifestly unfounded’ or ‘excessive’. If the data subject complains to the ICO that you’ve unfairly refused to respond to the subject access request for these reasons then the ICO might want to double-check your reasoning. You may face a enforcement action (which could include a fine) if you got it wrong and failed to respond to a valid request.

For this reason, it’s good practice to still process the parts of the request which you don’t object to and then explain in the cover letter why you couldn’t or wouldn’t respond to the other parts of the request. The ICO will see this as a better compromise than refusing to comply with the entire request.
Leading on from this, Charlotte, does the business have to send everything to the individual that they find?

That’s a really good point and one that is often forgotten about. The simple answer is no. Once the company has found all the documents containing the personal information requested, someone needs to go through it and identify any documents which don’t need to be disclosed. There is a long list but some of the most common ones we are see are documents which also identify other people, documents which are covered by legal professional privilege, references, documents for the purposes of management forecasting or business planning which would prejudice the business if the information got out (i.e. a planned redundancy programme) and documents about negotiations between the parties which could cause problems in the negotiations if they were shared.

If any of this information is found the business needs to consider whether the document can be redacted to remove the personal information or whether consent can be obtained from the other people named in the document. If not then this can be withheld and a note added to the cover letter to explain this.

So having mentioned the cover letter, Ryan I know these are letters that you often have to put together for clients when they are responding to subject access requests, what information do businesses have to put in the cover letter when they send the personal information to someone.

Yes, the letter is an important part of the process. The ICO guidance sets out what information has to be in the letter and says which documents need to be sent with it. Often the letter is repeating information that is already set out in the organisation’s Privacy Notice or Privacy Policy, and so much of the content can be adapted from there.

I won’t summarise every item that needs to go in the cover letter, but it’s basically the ‘what, why, where and how long’ of the organisation’s data processing activities. The individual also needs to be reminded of their legal rights, including the right to complain. I’d recommend double-checking the comprehensive list of information in the ICO’s guidance before the cover letter is sent, just to ensure that everything has been covered.

Charlotte, you mentioned earlier that you often see unhappy employees sending subject access requests to their employers. Would you like to talk more about the trends you’ve seen with these types of request?

Yes we definitely do. I’m not sure employees always use them, in the right way though. the idea of a subject access request was so that an individual could check a business was processing their personal data in the correct way and for the reasons it was given to them. For example, not selling their contact details to people who want to sell them new windows, or sharing their health information with insurance companies. In the employment world, people tend to use them in a more tactical way.

We regularly see individuals make a subject access request at the same time as they raise a grievance to complain about something happening at work. Or if they are trying to negotiate a settlement package from their employer, an employee will make a subject access request in the hope that dealing with it will be too difficult for the employer and they will agree to the payment to avoid having to do so. Employees do also do it as a fishing exercise to decide whether or not they want to bring a claim and IU would say that more often than not they bring them for the nuisance factor. Sometimes this works and the employer responds to it, in other situations it annoys the employer and they dig their heels in and comply with the request to avoid giving in to what they can perceive as a threat.

Interesting. From the organisation’s perspective, it’s unfortunate that the law can be used in this way.

I know that last year the government consulted on whether to reintroduce a nominal fee for making subject access requests, like the £10 charge we had under the old law. In the end they decided not to go ahead with it.

Following that same consultation the government did decide to proceed with looking to decrease the threshold for an organisation being able to refuse to respond to a subject access request, or to be able to charge a reasonable fee to respond. You’ll remember from earlier that the current threshold is that the request needs to be ‘manifestly unfounded’ or ‘excessive’. In response to the consultation, the government said they would look to reduce this so that the organisation only needs to show that the request was ‘vexatious ‘or ‘excessive’.

This approach hasn’t been finalised but do you see this change as being a positive for employers?

Yes I really think it would be. We often see the word vexatious used to describe things in the employment world and it could potentially help to stop requests where the person is only using it to cause trouble for their employer or ex-employer. Those types of requests weren’t stopped by the “manifestly unfounded” Category as it didn’t quite fit!

What would your top tip for dealing with subject access requests be Ryan?

I previously mentioned that it’s important for organisations to have a written subject access request procedure. This ensures all the key personnel involved in responding to a subject access request know what to do and can take action within the legal time limit. Where possible, this should be supported by the organisation using systems which allow for personal data to be easily searched for, reviewed and extracted following a subject access request. If searching and collating the data is an issue then there are third party service providers who can help with this process, although they can be costly to use.

A data audit of the organisation’s systems can reveal which repositories of data are most likely to cause an issue. Often these are old, legacy systems or paper-based records which can’t be easily searched. The organisation might want to prioritise searching those sources first when receiving a subject access request. That way they don’t overrun the deadline to respond.

Charlotte, is there anything else which HR teams and line managers can specifically do to prepare for the eventuality of receiving a subject access request?

There definitely are and it is worth investing some time in training all those with line management responsibilities in them to try and make the process as easy as possible if someone does make a subject access request. Some common sense things are :
– to make sure email and filing systems are kept up to date and are easily searchable
– to keep all HR related emails and documents together in one central system and not on individual email accounts or hard drives
– be careful about what is said by email – if in doubt have a conversation
– when writing internal notes and emails, bear in mind that the person it is about and/or a judge could potentially read it in the future. If you wouldn’t want them to read it then reconsider what you’re writing

We also recommend all staff have training on the GDPR and data protection issues in general, including subject access requests so they know what they are and how they fit into the business. This doesn’t just apply to those who manage staff anyone who handles personal information about clients, customers or employees should be aware of the legislation and duties and know what they should and shouldn’t do.

It’s also important to remember that deleted emails are also searchable and so just because something has been deleted doesn’t guarantee that

Before we end our discussion on subject access requests today, I think its worth us just briefly touching on the risks of getting it wrong as well. Ryan do you want to share some final thoughts with us about that?

Of course. If the data subject doesn’t think that the organisation has complied with the process properly then they can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the ICO). The ICO may launch an investigation in response to the complaint. It will take management time (and possibly legal fees) for the organisation to respond to the ICO’s enquiries.

If the ICO finds that the organisation has not followed the law then it may give binding instructions on how the organisation should correct its procedures and documentation. If there has been a serious breach of the law then the ICO might use its other enforcement powers, such as publishing a public notice about the breaches (which can lead to reputational damage) and/or issuing fines.
It’s therefore worth investing the time to ensure you respond to subject access requests properly and promptly first time around!

So that brings us to an end of our brief foray into data protection and subject access requests. Thank you to Ryan for being our first guest star on the employment podcast and thank you to you all for joining us too. We hope you found it useful. For further information in relation to the issues we have discussed today, please contact us via our website www.parissmith.co.uk or find us on LinkedIn.

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Sarah Hayes and Tabytha Cunningham | 28th September 2022

Menopause in the workplace

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Sarah Hayes and Tabytha Cunningham | 28th September 2022

Menopause in the workplace

In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing the impact of menopause on employees, and some of the steps that employers can take to support staff experiencing menopausal symptoms.

01:21: To start with, we’ll hear from Sarah Hayes, an employment lawyer at Paris Smith LLP. Sarah has extensive experience in advising employers on a range of issues relating to menopause, and she offers some great advice on how to support employees going through this difficult time.

09:00: We’ll also be talking to Tabytha Cunningham, who provides some great tips on how employers can make reasonable adjustments to help staff manage their symptoms.

13:53: Finally, we’ll ask Sarah about the usefulness of introducing a menopause policy, and she offers some great advice on what this could include.

So, whether you’re an employer looking to support your staff better through menopause, or an employee who’s experiencing symptoms and looking for advice, you won’t want to miss this episode.

Thank you for listening.

References and further reading

https://www.acas.org.uk/menopause-at-work
https://parissmith.co.uk/blog/menopause-and-employment-law-is-it-a-disability-and-what-steps-can-employers-take/

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25th May 2022

Employing Overseas Nationals to Work in the UK

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25th May 2022

Employing Overseas Nationals to Work in the UK

Business Immigration specialists Charlotte Farrell & Jane Biddlecombe look at the issues around employing overseas nationals to work in the UK.

This can seem like a daunting process, brought into sharp focus by Brexit and the end of free movement. It is something we are receiving more and more enquiries about.

Find out more: https://parissmith.co.uk/your-business/business-immigration/

00:50:00 What are the key things employers need to know about if they are thinking of employing oversees nationals to work in the UK on skilled worker visas?
How do you know if the oversees national eligible?

02:30:00 Once you have established that the job role is at the correct skill and salary level and someone can be sponsored to work in the UK in that role, what should the business do next? Charlotte covers the detail of applying for a sponsor licence.

04:15:00 How long does the sponsor licence process take and what costs are involved?

04:30:00 What duties and responsibilities do you have as a sponsor?

05:15:00 What HR policies and procedures should be in place before you apply for a sponsor?

06:09:00 Our experts give more information on the practical steps businesses should take once the sponsor licence has been obtained.

07:40:00 What other routes are available for employing overseas nationals in the UK? We explain the Global Business Mobility visa.

10:30:00 Jane explains the new Scale Up visa – coming in August 2022.

11:11:00 From 30 May 2022 there will be a new route from the Government that doesn’t require sponsorship at all – is this right for your business?

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Tabytha Cunningham and Charlotte Farrell | 3rd February 2022

Hybrid and Remote Working: Practical Implications for Employers

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Tabytha Cunningham and Charlotte Farrell | 3rd February 2022

Hybrid and Remote Working: Practical Implications for Employers

Remote and hybrid working has now become the norm for many businesses. Not only can there be various benefits to this flexibility, but more and more prospective employees look for this when applying for roles.

Employers who have embraced remote and hybrid working however need to ensure they are doing this compliantly; it’s crucial to have the right policies in place and employment contracts.

Employment experts Tabytha Cunningham and Charlotte Farrell discuss in our latest episode.

Find our more: parissmith.co.uk/your-business/employment-law/

Download our guide to hybrid working: parissmith.co.uk/wp-content/uploa…brid-working.pdf

00:45
Why should employers formalise their remote working practices?
Employers need to think about how they can support employees who are now permanently working from home.

02:33
What steps do employers need to take to formalise these new processes? Charlotte and Tabytha talk about the importance of having a hybrid working policy and what this should include.

04:35
Key practical considerations – our experts cover health and safety, risk assessments and data protection obligations in relation to hybrid and remote workers.

07:15
How employers can best support their remote employees and the importance of using appraisal procedures effectively.

09:35
Issues with international employees. If employers are happy with having staff in other locations, what practically do they need to think about?

LISTEN

3rd February 2022

Hybrid and Remote Working: Practical Implications for Employers

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3rd February 2022

Hybrid and Remote Working: Practical Implications for Employers

Remote and hybrid working has now become the norm for many businesses. Not only can there be various benefits to this flexibility, but more and more prospective employees look for this when applying for roles.

Employers who have embraced remote and hybrid working however need to ensure they are doing this compliantly; it’s crucial to have the right policies in place and employment contracts.

Employment experts Tabytha Cunningham and Charlotte Farrell discuss in our latest episode.

Find our more: https://parissmith.co.uk/your-business/employment-law/

Download our guide to hybrid working: https://parissmith.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/media-Employment-Remote-and-hybrid-working.pdf

00:45
Why should employers formalise their remote working practices?
Employers need to think about how they can support employees who are now permanently working from home.

02:33
What steps do employers need to take to formalise these new processes? Charlotte and Tabytha talk about the importance of having a hybrid working policy and what this should include.

04:35
Key practical considerations – our experts cover health and safety, risk assessments and data protection obligations in relation to hybrid and remote workers.

07:15
How employers can best support their remote employees and the importance of using appraisal procedures effectively.

09:35
Issues with international employees. If employers are happy with having staff in other locations, what practically do they need to think about?

LISTEN

Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham | 30th November 2021

Recruitment & Retention Part 2: Long Term Employee Retention

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Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham | 30th November 2021

Recruitment & Retention Part 2: Long Term Employee Retention

Many organisations are struggling with retaining talent, with some offering high salaries in order to attract and retain key people. But does this keep good staff in the long term? Employment experts Tabytha Cunningham and Claire Merritt explore the key factors that affect employee retention, and how you can keep existing staff happy and productive.

00:50 Claire talks through the importance of good and frequent communication in your business at all levels.

01:57 Training and development is key. Businesses change all the time and people are looking for their next challenge.

03:17 Managing staff after the pandemic and new skills. How can we effectively manage remote teams and keep them engaged?

05:43 Managing wellbeing and making employees feel valued. What tools are available?

06:55 Flexible working, work life balance and making sure your employees don’t feel overwhelmed.

09:12 How do you advertise your roles and do you mention remote working?

09:50 Managing mental health at work. Do you have training in place to ensure managers can help people properly? This can be key in employee retention.

12:09 The importance of recognition. What motivates people is different for each individual but it is always important to show employees they are valued.

13:44 How should you reward employees?

16:19 Career progression and ensuring employees feel they are heading in the right direction.

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30th November 2021

Employee Retention Part 2 – Long Term Talent Retention

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30th November 2021

Employee Retention Part 2 – Long Term Talent Retention

Many organisations are struggling with retaining talent, with some offering high salaries in order to attract and retain key people. But does this keep good staff in the long term? Employment experts Tabytha Cunningham and Claire Merritt explore the key factors that affect employee retention, and how you can keep existing staff happy and productive.

Did you miss part 1? Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/user-732927814/employee-retention-part-1-recruitment-best-practice
Find out more: https://parissmith.co.uk/your-business/employment-law/

00:50 Claire talks through the importance of good and frequent communication in your business at all levels.

01:57 Training and development is key. Businesses change all the time and people are looking for their next challenge.

03:17 Managing staff after the pandemic and new skills. How can we effectively manage remote teams and keep them engaged?

05:43 Managing wellbeing and making employees feel valued. What tools are available?

06:55 Flexible working, work life balance and making sure your employees don’t feel overwhelmed.

09:12 How do you advertise your roles and do you mention remote working?

09:50 Managing mental health at work. Do you have training in place to ensure managers can help people properly? This can be key in employee retention.

12:09 The importance of recognition. What motivates people is different for each individual but it is always important to show employees they are valued.

13:44 How should you reward employees?

16:19 Career progression and ensuring employees feel they are heading in the right direction.

LISTEN

Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham | 30th November 2021

Recruitment & Retention Part 1: Recruitment Best Practice

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Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham | 30th November 2021

Recruitment & Retention Part 1: Recruitment Best Practice

Welcome to the first of our two-part employee recruitment and retention podcast. Lots of business are struggling to recruit and retain the right people for their organisation. Employment law experts Claire Merritt and Tabytha Cunningham explain how getting your processes right can really help.

01:41 What does best practice look like? Claire examines how contracts of employment can be used as a key recruitment tool.

03:51 Going back to basics and focussing on the requirements of the role.

04:30 Your job adverts – be mindful of discrimination claims be careful with language

05:20 Ensuing you have an objective selection and interview process.

06:40 Risks of getting it wrong – the pressure on wage inflation, the gender pay gap.

09:03 A move towards openness – disclosing salaries and meeting candidate expectations.

10:22 Best practice for candidate onboarding and offering the best support.

12:00 Probationary periods and using these correctly.

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Data Subject Access Requests – 5 Top Tips for Employers

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes, Clive Dobbin, David Roath, Charlotte Farrell, Tabytha Cunningham, Andrew Willshire and Adam Wheal | 14th October 2024

Data Subject Access Requests – 5 Top Tips for Employers

Relationship Breakdown

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18th September 2024

Relationship Breakdown

Kimberley Davies, Trainee Solicitor – Day in the life of

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Kimberley Davies | 3rd September 2024

Kimberley Davies, Trainee Solicitor – Day in the life of

My name is Kim and I’m a trainee in the Tax and Estate Planning Department at Paris Smith. So the day of a trainee in Tax and Estates is very varied. I attend a lot of client meetings, either in our offices or occasionally we’ll attend clients at home. Following those meetings, I will draft their wills or their powers of attorney or whatever it is that they’ve asked us for assistance with.

I also assist fee earners with lifetime planning, so I will assist with drafted trust documentation or tax calculations for income tax or inheritance tax.

I’m a member of the charity committee here at Paris Smith, and every year Paris Smith picks a charity of the year, and the role of the charity committee is really to fundraise and raise as much money as we possibly can for that charity.

We run many events throughout the year. So for example, we run bake sales, charity runs, hikes, or general raffles throughout the office. We also support with individual colleagues that wish to do their own fundraising efforts. So for example, we have members of the team that are climbing Snowdon. Our managing partner is abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower, and we attend and show our support for all of these events.    

As a trainee when you start in a new department you’ll be assigned a buddy in that department. They’re generally someone that has just qualified and they will assist you as well as your supervisor with any kind of day to day questions or any things you may wish to ask.

They’re always kind of on hand should you need them. Paris Smith also offer a mentoring scheme. So you can sign up to have a mentor or to become a mentor. And these mentoring meetings have proved really invaluable to me. So I’ve met my mentor a few times and we’ve gone for coffee and cake, and it’s just really helped to make me feel supported within the team and Paris Smith as a whole.  

 I enjoy the responsibility that trainees are given here at Paris Smith, trainees are given lots of responsibility to manage their own workload, and you get stuck in really quickly, but at the same time, you always feel supported.

I know that there is always someone on hand should I need them. So I think that Para Smith has the perfect balance between being given responsibility, but feeling supported at all times.

Alicia Gardner, Trainee Solicitor – Day in the life of

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Alicia Gardner | 3rd September 2024

Alicia Gardner, Trainee Solicitor – Day in the life of

Hi, my name’s Alicia and I’m a trainee solicitor in the Dispute Resolution Department.

The work in dispute resolution is really varied because the team covers a range of areas. In any one day, I could be drafting advice on an insolvency matter, looking at titles in a property dispute, and sourcing experts in a personal injury case.

There’s also opportunities to attend court and sit with the barrister, which is really interesting and I get to be involved in all aspects of a case.  

Being based in the legal hub of Southampton, there’s plenty of opportunities for networking, even as a trainee. There’s events throughout the year put on by junior lawyers and young professionals across the region, and events that I’ve been a part of include a day at the races, quiz nights, and dinners, so there’s really something for everyone.  

We meet regularly with our training partner to have a really open chat about how we’re getting on and our career aspirations and which seats we’d like to try. So regardless of which team we’re in, there’s that consistent guidance and support.    

I really enjoy being a part of the teams that I work in and I often find myself going out for lunch with some colleagues at one of the many great places we have to eat and drink on our doorstep being at the heart of Southampton and Winchester.

Narcissism and Relationship Breakdown Webinar

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16th May 2024

Narcissism and Relationship Breakdown Webinar

1) So, good afternoon everyone, and thanks so much for joining us.

2) I’m Rachel Osgood, I’m a partner in Smith’s family department, and I’m joined by my partner Lisa Bray and our speaker today, Jan Hawkins. Before we start, I just need to deal with a couple of bits of housekeeping, which are really important.

3) So if I get anything wrong, I’m gonna rely on my support team, Casey, to jump in and correct me. Firstly, as you know, this is intended to be a safe space for all, and anonymity may be very important to some of you. And so it is very important that you stay anonymous if that’s what you need. So no one attending can see your, you in your picture box. But when you join the webinar, you were invited to fill in your name.

4) For those wishing to remain anonymous, you should have filled in anonymous. But if you filled in your real name and you want to stay anonymous, you will need to change your name in your picture box. You can do that by hovering over the three, over the picture box and three dots will appear. Click on those three dots and then select, change your name. You can then change it to anonymous or you can change it to whatever you feel comfortable with.

5) If you want to ask a question, then you can do so anonymously. Go into the chat box to type your question, but select hosts and panellists and direct your question privately to us. If you direct your question to everyone, then so long as your name has been changed to anonymous, you will remain anonymous. This session is being recorded and it’ll then be uploaded later on to our website for future reference. No participants will be, visible in the recording.

6) If you think this session would benefit someone you know, who wasn’t able to attend the live session, then do feel free please to signpost them to our website. After the webinar, you’ll receive a feedback form. Be great if you could let us know if there are any other subjects that you’d like us to cover in, in future sessions. So that’s the housekeeping. before I introduce Jan, I just wanted to say a bit more about what, what we’re trying to do here.

7) We want these sessions to provide information for our clients and for potential clients. People considering, separation or divorce and any other stakeholders. We want to provide information that’s really of interest to them because instinctively as lawyers, we find ourselves irresistibly drawn to advising about the law. It’s really important for us to remember that that’s not all that our clients want.

8) So these sessions are about listening to our clients. It’s about putting our clients front and centre. It’s about really, really hearing the things that worrying them. And what we keep hearing from our clients is the word narcissism. We find our clients are describing narcissistic traits in their partners, and they tell us that these traits have often been the cause of the breakdown of the relationship. And they’ll almost certainly be a factor in the way that the divorce process and separation unfolds.

9) So, as family lawyers, we need to understand what narcissism looks like. How will someone with a personality, a narcissistic personality disorder, respond to the separation process? And to us, can we tailor our approach to best promote resolution for our clients? Can we spot when our client needs support in these situations?

10) Is it ever possible to reach agreement with a narcissist or will it always mean going to court? Well, Jan Hawkins is a specialist in this field, and she’s going to try and answer some of these questions for us. She has over 30 years experience of working as a psychotherapist. Not only is she a clinician, an educator, she’s also a hugely engaging speaker. And we’re so excited to have her here today. Before I hand over to Jan, just a couple of things.

11) Just to remind you, you are here anonymously. This is a safe space. We’ll deal with questions at the end. Just remember to direct questions to hosts and panellists or change your name to anonymous. Then finally, as I said at the start, we are hoping to provide a series of webinars. And since we’re trying to deal with the things that interest you clients, potential clients, there are any subjects that you would like us to deal with in the context of family law, then do please feel free to let us know.

12) And you can do that either in the feedback form or you can email Lisa or me directly. So what would you find helpful if you’ve been divorced? What was the one thing you wish you had known then? So handing over now to Dan. Well, thank you. thank you so much for inviting me. Lisa and Rachel. so this is a topic that’s, there’s books all over the place about this topic.

13) but, sometimes I think just hearing or speaking about it and having a chance to answer, ask your questions, can be useful. So I’m going to, show some slides and the, as Rachel said, if you want to look through them again afterwards, you are able to, go to their, website and do that. so I’m going to share my screen now.

14) Okay. So narcissism in relationship to relationship breakdown. So that’s what we are looking at, today. So you may not know that narcissists is where narcissism, the name narcissism came from. Narcissus in Greek mythology was a beautiful youth, a son of Cepheus in the Ian River and Oppi and limp as a punishment for ignoring the love of echo, a mounting limp he loved no one he saw at all until he saw his own reflection in water and fell in love with that.

15) Finally, he pined a away and was turned into the flower of like, name Narciss, no narcissist. Oh no, a flower called a narcissist. So the character of narcissist is the original term of narcissism, which is a self-centered personality style.

16) Now, in my profession as a psychotherapist, I do not diagnose diagnoses happens with psychiatrists. We are very different breeds. However, it’s important that I do notice and understand the signs of narcissistic personality disorder. If I’m going to help people who are affected by it, I’m much more likely to see people affected by the disorder than I am to see people who have the disorder.

17) and that’s partly because of the self-centred personality style. IE that person feels that they are fine, everything is great, it’s the people they affect that are most likely to pitch up in the psychotherapist, room. So the quality of this self-centred personality style in extreme contributes to the definition of narcissistic personality disorder, which is, as I said, a not a psychiatric condition marked by grandiosity, excessive need for attention and admiration and an inability to empathise.

18) So we could look really at the four main masks of the narcissist. And if we look at this, I’m very excited to be able to put pictures on my slideshows these days. but sometimes they’re not quite as slightly defined as I’d like.

19) So if we look at the entitled, mask, it’s mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. Everything is about me. So the person with high entitlement matches really well with a person who has low entitlement. The problems emerge when the low entitled person begins to grow and recognises they have needs, asserting needs, one’s own needs with, someone who has a person narcissistic personality disorder can create great turmoil as it threatens their need to be the most entitled.

20) And then if we look at the addictive self-soothing mask, there may be alcohol, drugs, sex, food, gambling, their own way, addicted to having their own way, time to engage in their own interest, but completely ignoring the interest of the partner of you, the partner. Then we look at the show off always in the limelight.

21) They may use, your, their partners or children’s, achievements to show off as well, basking in the limelight rather than really being proud of them. So they’re different from the life and soul of the party type, because this person never knows when to stop. It is all about grandiosity, it’s about me, me, me, and as opposed to mine, mind mine, it’s me, me, me all the time.

22) And then if we look at the bully, mask, this would be the person who would be the aiming for control. There could be abusive bullying behaviours, never taking responsibility for their behaviour, and never apologising unless to apologise would actually get the grandiosity back that they need. So those are the four main masks of the narcissist.

23) So let’s look then at the severity of narcissistic personality. And the, the symptoms can vary. So I just read you these out. They have an unreasonably high sense of self-importance and require constant excessive admiration. As you’re listening to these, you might be wanting to think about your own experience and particularly your own experience early in relationships.

24) And this may not just be with a partner, this could be with, a colleague or with a manager at work. And they feel that they deserve privileges and special treatment. They expect to be recognised as superior even without achievements. They make achievements and talents seem bigger than they are, and they may be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty, or the perfect mate.

25) And these fantasies, they will have no empathy with the person they are with as they describe their fantasies of what they actually want. They believe that they are superior to others, and they can only spend time with or be understood by equally special people. They may be critical of and look down on people they feel are not important.

26) They expect special favours and expect other people to do what they want without questioning them. They take advantage of others to get what they want. That may be something they have done to you or something you have seen them do to others. They have an inability or an unwillingness that mainly an inability to recognise the needs and feelings of others.

27) They’re so focused on themselves. They may be envious of others and believe others envy them. They may behave in an arrogant way, brag a lot, and come across as conceited. They may insist on having the best of everything. For instance, the best car, the best office, the best food in a restaurant, the best of everything. It’s got to be the best.

28) So if we are looking at the slide here at this skull, I’ve put this image here simply to say it can be dangerous. If you are in relationship with someone who has a narcissistic personality disorder, they may have trouble handling anything that they perceive as criticism.

29) They can become impatient or angry when they don’t get special recognition or treatment. They may have major problems interacting with others and easily feel slighted, and they may react with rage or contempt and try to belittle other people to make themselves appear superior. They may experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change.

30) They may withdraw from or avoid situations in which they might fail. Remember, they’ve got to be the best, rather avoid than risk the failure. Sometimes they may feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection, and they may have the insight to recognise that, or it may have been pointed out to them and could got through. And they may have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, humiliation, and fear of being exposed as a failure.

31) They may have that and they may not. So it is important to remember that the, the stereotype of the narcissistic personality disorder does tend to be male, and especially in relationship breakdown. Where coercive control is, is on the table. It tends to be a thought that it’s, it is going to be the male partner.

32) So I think it’s really important to recognise that the narcissistic personality disorder is the disorder. It doesn’t really make a lot of difference, it’s just that actually, men are far more, less likely to report when they have been on the receiving end of coercive control. So unfortunately, the research hasn’t actually caught up yet with the various gender identities we now recognise.

33) So the research has focused on male and female. If we think about the characteristics though, rather than gender, we’ll be clear about how a person is behaving and the impact that behaviour is having on us. So I found these two, little snippets, which I rather liked.

34) Again, we’ve got the, the female loving herself in the mirror. And this is just totally true. If you argue with a narcissist, it’s like being arrested. They’re gonna take down everything you say and it can and will be used against you. You may have had this experience where weeks after something you have said is suddenly thrown at you as though you’ve done some terrible thing to hurt your partner or the person, who’s you are involved with.

35) They take it down, they bore it out. That is a characteristic and of the, disorder. And if we think of again, the female and not a female narcissist can be so blinded by her own hatred, jealousy, and revenge towards her ex and his new wife. She’ll mentally and emotionally destroy her own children in the line of fire if she thinks it’s hurting her ex or his new wife, and then either play the victim or mother of the year.

36) So these are characteristics that we might see. and that, you might be on the receiving end of that Doesn’t mean that the male narcissist wouldn’t do the same thing that would, you know, mentally and emotionally destroy their own children in order to hurt the mother. So If we think about then how did we manage to get ourselves involved with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder?

37) so if we think about schemas and the, and the word schema describes patterns of thinking and behavior that people use to interpret the world just as just, just really to understand the world. and so we, if we think about that, how did we get locked in?

38) And I think the experience, of being in a relationship with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder can feel like a magnet, feel like you’re stuck and it’s really difficult to remove yourself. So being able to understand how did that happen? What is the attraction from the person who has a narcissistic personality disorder to their partner who doesn’t?

39) And what is it about the partner who doesn’t, that attracts them to a partner with narcissistic personality disorder? So by looking at these schemas, we get a bit of an understanding. So if, if you are attracted or you have been stuck in a relationship with someone with, narcissistic personality disorder, you’ve probably learned to keep your feelings to yourself. You are very high on self-sacrifice is hard for you to ask what you need without feeling unworthy or guilty and subjugation.

40) You might find it difficult to assert your personal rights and opinions. You may have experience of abandonment and instability in your early life. So you’re fearful of being rejected or alone. So we’ll put up with the limitations or tormenting behaviours of someone with narcissistic personality disorder. And because of early life experiences, you may also feel inadequate and under undesirable.

41) So buy into criticisms that are thrown at you. You can easily take the blame and feel you need to change yourself. These are things that have happened because of your early experience. And these things make you, vulnerable to somebody who does have a narcissistic personality disorder because it will feed their sense of how marvellous they are that you don’t feel that you are marvellous yet.

42) So you may also experience emotional inhibition. So you’ve learned to keep your feelings to yourself. You’ve learned to be stoic and perhaps overly, overly sort of quiet when it comes to your emotions. You suffer in silence. You may have experienced emotional deprivation early in your life.

43) So you don’t believe that it’s possible to find someone who will meet your emotional needs and who would really love, understand, protect, and care about you. You may also have had the experience of being, of, of learning to mistrust because of early abuse. And because of that early history, hurtful and abusive behaviour is familiar. It’s just what you are used to dealing with. You don’t like it, but you know how to put up with it.

44) You may try and fight back, but usually you’ll give in. And then you may also have had unrelenting standards on yourself because of early, your early experience. So you try harder and harder to be the perfect partner, friend, sibling, employee because you believe that is what is expected of you. You compromise, you please and you lose spontaneity by adhering to the needs and demands of others.

45) So these schemas that we’ve developed throughout early life make us vulnerable to a relationship or to anybody who has a narcissistic personality disorder. Because in order to feed their narcissism, they need people they can feel better than or that they can control, all of those things.

46) So those schemas, they kind of fit together. They make us vulnerable to that fit. According to a nine, a 2019 study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, people with narcissistic personality disorder have traits that make it harder to love another person. So your narcissistic spouse may not be able to support you or show genuine emotion.

47) They may not have that capacity. Any love or affection they show is often given only for their own benefit. So what felt at the early stages, like real, genuine, loving may not have been, they may not have the capacity to truly love to genuinely love. And that’s not because there’s something wrong with you, it’s because of that condition.

48) So looking out for narcissistic traits in our partners that you’ll have had experiences of, they’ve cheated, they break promises, they lose their charm behind closed doors. You are finding you are walking on eggshells all the time. You are constantly being criticism criticised if you don’t do what they want, you get the silent treatment. You feel what I call mushy brain.

49) And mushy brain is that experience of perfectly intelligent people suddenly not being able to manage what’s going on in their head. It just doesn’t make sense. And that is because of a constant onslaught of these criticisms. The silent treatment, the you’ve got it wrong. All of these things will make people who are perfectly intel intelligent lose a sense of what is right and what is wrong.

50) And I just put that little pink picture there. Please cancel my subscription to your issues because I think that’s really where it’s at. In a relationship breakdown. You’ve got your own issues. You do not need to be working on the other person’s issues. That’s their responsibility. So is all narcissism a bad thing? Well, actually narcissism is an important thing.

51) If we look at this middle, section of the slide. healthy narcissism balances the needs of the self and the needs of others. Healthy narcissism also is based in reality. It’s not based in grandiose ideas of, you know, I’m going to, I think I’ve missed the boat frankly, of being a brain surgeon. But you know, if I had a narcissistic personality disorder, I might think I still could be a brain surgeon.

52) So with healthy narcissism, it’s based in reality, it’s too late. I’m not gonna be a brain surgeon. healthy narcissism allows us to be assertive. It allows us to be independent, not stuck with having to have the other person around all the time. Healthy narcissism allows us to compromise. We can give and take. It builds confidence, and there’s generally a sense of wellbeing with a healthy amount of narcissism.

53) So if we look at people with low levels of narcissism, the other end of the continuum, we can see the vulnerability to being involved with someone with a pathological narcissism. So with low le levels of narcissism, person feels inadequate, unworthy and unlovable tend to put their own needs Last will tend to have low self-esteem, feel undeserving can be submissive, overly responsible for self and others gives to others and hopes for recognition does not stand up for themselves and can feel like a servant.

54) Now, of course, in any of these lists, we’re not necessarily going to have all of these, but we will have significant numbers of them. If we are having low levels of narcissism, if we look to the other end of this continuum, then we can see how that fit happens.

55) Again, because someone with a narcissistic personality disorder, the pathological narcissism, we’ll be self-centred. They’ll be lacking in empathy. They’ll tend to have their thoughts based in fantasy. They will have fixed and rigid defences so that anything, the partner says or anybody says to me, it doesn’t fit with what they’ve decided, they’re going to get very angry. They’ll idealise themselves or they’ll idealise somebody else.

56) So they may, in the early stages of a relationship, have idealised you and that can feel fantastic. If you’re someone who has not really got a great deal of confidence yourself, that can be really amazing to be idealised. Unfortunately, one foot wrong and that idealising goes, they tend to be grandiose as we’ve, said and entitled, they will coerce others through anger into resonating with their needs they will take from others and they will refuse to take personal responsibility.

57) So looking at this slide, one of the things I would just encourage really is, that move towards healthy narcissism. Any of us who’ve experienced trauma early in our lives or difficult times early in our lives may not have a healthy amount of narcissism.

58) and that’s something we need to develop. So if you are dealing with a narcissist, try the following tips. Now I’ve put in purple, which I notice is in keeping with the colour theme today. And I didn’t know that. the beast is the behaviour, not the person. This is really important to remember because it’s crucial that we do not feed the beast.

59) IE don’t feed the behaviour. So with somebody with a narcissistic personality disorder, try to avoid direct confrontation. Don’t feed the beast. Reiterate your need for action over promises. so being very clear about what action you are wanting and not putting up with, I promise to do that because you know that the promise is untrustworthy. So don’t feed the beast.

60) Maintain any boundaries you have set. And this is going to be difficult. If you are at the point of divorcing of ending a relationship, it is likely that your boundaries have been transgressed. If the you’ve been with someone who’s got a narcissistic personality disorder, you are going to have been harmed. So you are going to need to develop and maintain new boundaries and hold onto them.

61) You also need to remind yourself if the relationship is breaking down, that you are not to blame. There’s always going to be things. You know, that old saying, six of one and a half, a dozen of the other. Okay, there are going to be things that, that we all could have done if we’re in a relationship that breaks down. But if you are in a relationship with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder, it isn’t six of one and a half a dozen of the other, you will have been harmed.

62) You need to remind yourself you are not to blame because the person with the narcissistic personality disorder is going to be telling you, you are all the time. Don’t feed the beast. Don’t accept their behaviour. This may be something you have had to learn to do to survive in a relationship. Not anymore. If you are separating, it’s the end of accepting their behaviour.

63) Don’t feed the beast. I think the message might be getting through now and acknowledge when you need professional help. and that may be in the form of your lawyers, your solicitors. because doing this by yourself trying to come to an agreement with someone with narcissistic personality disorder is extremely difficult. So you may need professional help. It is important that you getting and also know when to leave a conversation or a room or indeed a relationship.

64) Don’t feed the beast. So that may mean something’s getting a bit controversial, things are getting heated. You are recognising that you are about to be in some horrible confrontation, and suddenly you say, oh, I’ve just realised I’ve just got to go to the bathroom, or I’ve just got to, make the call, is urgent.

65) I’ll come back later so that you get out before things really get heated. So what does a narcissist do at the end of a relationship? They blame it on you. They’re going to try to incite guilt and shame. And if those schemas we looked at earlier are part of what happens for you, it’s gonna be easy for them to incite guilt or blame.

66) So it’s, it’s important to begin to recognise that, see it coming and have it imaginary. I like to think of an imaginary, transparent riot shield. So for things like that, anything, any stuff that’s being thrown at you slides off the transparent riot shield. It does not get in. That is something to develop.

67) They will spin the narrative, to blame. You blame the partner for the failure of the relationship. And this maintains their grandiose perception of themselves and gives them leverage to try and convince others to have empathy with them. So I just want to take a little pause there and to read you a little story. When I was at school, there was a series of reading books that you worked through, called Janet and John.

68) So I’m going to just read you a little case study that will illustrate what, what we are talking about here. So Janet and John seem to be a perfect match. They’re complimentary characteristics. Janet organised. She was over responsible and loving John, charming, disorganised, and lacking in responsibility. Though his more disturbing characteristics developed later during the relationship, trouble really started Janet and John’s relationship when they had a child and Janet needed support.

69) She also went into therapy thinking she was a dreadful partner because any requests she made of John were met with anger. After many years of marriage, Janet’s attempts to reach John were not working. She had been patient with his affairs, had attempted to compensate for his irresponsible and erratic behaviours, so the children didn’t suffer.

70) She hoped and had begun to strongly urge him to engage in couple’s therapy. He would not. When she raised concerns about his behaviours, his answer was, if you don’t like it, get a divorce. This led to request to discuss things which led to Janet receiving the silent treatment or his repeated phrase, don’t talk to me, get a solicitor’s letter.

71) When she did just that, John reduced the story to Janet, made me get rid of my chickens and threw me out. This to anyone who would listen. It’s not a pretty story. So the narcissist at the end of a relationship will not be taking responsibility or sharing responsibility.

72) They may engage in discarding and devaluation. They may actually abruptly end the relationship with without warning or explanation and devalue the partner and make you feel un unworthy. They will always shift the blame. They often deflect responsibility onto the partner for the breakup. Even if they have themselves abruptly ended, the relationship, it will always not be the partner’s fault.

73) So how do we recover if there have been a narcissistic relationship and avoid a repeat. What I’ve noticed is that when people have been in an abusive relationship with a narcissistic partner, it can take an awfully long time, time to reclaim a sense of self.

74) If that’s been your experience, begin now. Notice when you are thinking of yourself through the eyes of that partner or that person, and refocus on who you actually are. It’s a difficult thing because if you’ve been in a relationship with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder, it it will have harmed you.

75) It will have got in, take time to heal, possibly therapy will be useful or other connections where you can see in the reflection of the other yourself, not the projections of the narcissistic view of you. It has harmed you. Take time to recover. Consider making a red flag list. Anything that reminds you of the narcissistic way of operating is to be avoided in any future relationships. You are worth more.

76) Anyone with a narcissistic personality disorder is not a hundred percent bad, but their ability to have feelings for others in terms of empathy is pretty non-existent than can have many other feelings, but it may be difficult or impossible for them to share in someone else’s feelings in the way that others do. They may be pleased or proud when their pressured child does well at school, but incapable of understanding how their child might be feeling.

77) It’s all about the glorification of themselves being For a narcissist can bring on narcissistic rage, which typically leads to behaviours like tantrums, manipulations, smearing, grandstanding, lying playing, victim nasty retaliations and refusing to cooperate are the most common. So it’s important not to, ignore them.

78) Not always easy, but finding ways of not ignoring, is gonna be important. So for example, instead of ignoring, and lots of people will say, just ignore them, it will actually increase their efforts to get at you. So actually going for minimal responses. If, if they, if you pick up a phone or if you are talking and they’re coming out with something that you don’t agree with, simply say something like this, I’ll think about that and get back to you.

79) Bye. Or for example, we need to leave this to our solicitors. Bye. Recognise when you are being drawn into more dialogue and stop. It must go someone at the door. Anything minimal.

80) So it’s not ignoring, but it is simply not feeding the beast. So be aware that others involved in helping you to extricate yourself from a relationship with someone with a narcissistic personality disorder. They may not see through the charm offensive and they may be taken in. That’s really difficult to be around. So just ensure that you have support systems who really do recognise the impact on you and the indications from your ex-partner so you can feel safely supported.

81) And this can happen even with your, solicitor or sometimes people are involved with cafcass and someone with a narcissistic personality disorder can be absolutely brilliant at charming the, that professional. So you will need to ensure that you have support systems who will really be there for you, so that you are not taken in by that.

82) And that you have a solicitor who actually recognises what narcissistic personality disorder looks like. This, offering from Paris Smith is, is just so important, in helping because whilst you are here on this webinar, so are they and they are wanting to learn so they know what they are seeing too. And remember, in all dealings with someone who has a narcissistic personality disorder, less is more and don’t feed the beast respectful civil, but minimal interactions will reduce the struggle and help you begin healing.

83) There may be attempts at love bombing by your partner and that take you back around the cycle again. And if you can recognise what your cycle is and what has always been, because there will be a pattern, you will might see the escape route quicker, less is more.

84) Don’t feed the beast. And to remind you, oh, I’ve, you can look back at slide 11. So at this point I’m going to stop the share and I believe there may be some questions that we can look at. Thank you Jan. Jan, as you were, going through your slides, in particular the one regarding what a narcissist does, at the end of the relationship, I think is particularly resonated with, one of our, participants today who’s shared some feedback on, on the chat function.

85) So, so thank you for that. in terms of a couple of questions, Jan, so one question, from a participant is who, who wants to leave their partner, perhaps doesn’t feel ready themselves emotionally to take that step at the moment. is with obviously someone who they consider to be a narcissist, do you have any advice as to what steps they should be taking for themselves to help prepare themselves to, to start that process of separation?

86) Yes, and I, I do and I recognise how hard it is. because, because as I said, not, someone with a narcissistic personality disorder is not all bad. It would be easier if they were, it’s so much more confusing when one minute you are being love bombed and the next minute you are being criticised, you don’t know where you are.

87) so I think one of the things that can be useful is to keep a journal and try to recognise what is going on because that cycle I was talking about, we’ll all have one when we’re in that kind of relationship in any kind of relationship, we’ll all have a cycle of, you know, of what’s happening. so keeping a journal beginning to notice what exactly is going on and when exactly if there is love bombing, because that’s what’s pulling you back in.

88) So you get to a point where you’re thinking, no, I’ve really got to go, oh, the partner’s been nice to me, actually no, it’s really okay. And that’s where that mushy brain feeling comes. So keeping a journal, possibly seeing a therapist to work through some of those issues, keeping your feet on the ground and reflecting on that. Slide 11, don’t feed the beast.

89) Yeah, And I think that probably feeds into, Jan as well. Another question that we’ve had, in terms of, wanting to leave but worrying about how your partner will react and steps to take, you know, especially if there are children of the family, as well. So, so I think that that slide is, you know, is very helpful for, for people to be able to, to reflect on. I think another question that’s actually just come through on the chat, is whether or not Jan, you have any tips, if, we as professionals begin to see, narcissistic traits in our clients and do you have any tips for us on how we might manage that?

90) I think being aware is absolutely everything. Of course, somebody, you know, can be very charming and not have a narcissistic personality disorder. They just happen to be a very charming person. But if you start to see, if you are seeing a couple and you start to see a, a kind of energy shift where one starts to become more charming and the other one begins to diminish a bit, be aware of that because that may be a clue that there is something going on there that it’s difficult for the partner who wants to leave, to say, because there’s the dynamics playing out in front of you.

91) I, I think that’s something that’s really important. and but again, you don’t wanna feed the beast either.

92) And by the beast, I am referring not to the person, but to the behaviour. So someone who is really good at the charm offensive, does not get very far with me. I will be very polite and I will be very, listened to what they say, but I am not going to show any kind of signs that I’m being won over by the charm offensive.

93) You know, it, does that make sense? It’s, it’s very easy when someone’s flooding you with charm to almost go into charm mode yourself because it’s almost hypnotic. So spot it remain uber professional, and then the person who’s on the receiving it now, the partner, if you’ve got them both in the same room, is going to feel a bit supported. Now, generally speaking, you’re probably seeing one on their own or the other.

94) If you hear the kind of grandiosity or the kind of, well, it’s all the fault that if you start, you know, check through that checklist, then be aware that you may be in a position where you are having to support you are, you are being called to support a partner who’s being abusive to somebody else’s client. And how you manage that is going to be something you’ll need to talk to each other about whether you’re gonna take a client like that.

95) And that’s also why these, these sessions Jan is so important for us as professionals as well. So obviously, you know, we are not trained to, to diagnose, personality disorders, but it’s, it’s been alive to the traits, looking at what the client tells us. And obviously we shouldn’t just accept when our client comes in and says their partner is, is a narcissist, you know, absolutely qualified either. but it’s being, you know, alive to, you know, to the traits, isn’t it?

96) And how to use that. It’s, It is. But just on that, I was just describing if you had a client who has an autistic personality disorder, what you’d see, but what you’ll see in somebody who’s been on the receiving end is more often somebody who’s gonna be worrying that you are not gonna believe them. They’re probably not going to be saying, my partner’s got a narcissistic personality disorder might do these days, and especially if they’ve been to this webinar, they might say, oh, I now understand, but by the time somebody is actually ready to leave, what you’re gonna see is exhaustion, flip-flopping, you know, really have got to leave.

97) But on the other hand, it’s like they’re seeing themselves through the eyes of the partner and they’re also worried that leaving is going to cause harm to the children. And the partner may be reinforcing that. And actually evidence shows that, children of divorce don’t suffer.

98) actually they don’t suffer as badly, as long as the parents are both behaving in a loving way towards the children. And if that is not possible, if the parents who have the parent who has residence has the support to heal from what has been going on and to help the children heal, they do better than children who remain in a, a, a relationship because the parents are saying, well, we’ve got to keep together because of the children.

99) Actually those children are in my therapy room as adults suffering with, you know, if only they’d have divorced years and years ago, we’d have been, we’d have been better. Rachel, I dunno if you’ve got any other questions that have, have come through the things that have, sort of a couple of questions that kind of link together actually, which touch a little on what you’ve just been saying. one’s from a client interestingly and one from another divorce lawyer.

100) and the first question is that, this person says that they’ve been through a divorce and their wife was a raging narcissist. they say that, the wife and her solicitor put me through help. Yeah. What could my solicitor have done to try to limit the damage? So that’s from the client perspective. And then, this from, from a lawyer who says, as lawyers, we’re not psychotherapists, which we just touched on, and we’re not trained to diagnose personality disorders.

101) Should we be relying on our client’s diagnosis? Should we conduct the case any differently on the basis of what our clients tell us? Or should we deal with it in just the same way as usual? Interesting questions. I and I, my heart goes out to the, the person who, who has had that raging ex-wife. as I said during the presentation, it’s very easy to assume that it’s only, women who suffer from coercive control and from people who’ve got narcissistic personality disorder and other, other issues.

102) and the, I think the thing is, signposting to therapy is probably one of the most important things, and therapy is not the answer to everything. but signposting to a therapist who actually really does understand, some, some therapeutic schools, some traditions have got quite fixed ideas about, certain things like this, so they might pathologise.

103) So you’ve got this extreme from pathologising, oh yes, that person’s definitely got a personality disorder, which reinforce it, that actually they might not. to the other extreme, which is I don’t have any labels and I don’t have any kind of interest in labelling people. Now those, neither of those extremes is gonna be helpful. A therapist who is able to work with a client who is experiencing an awful lot of turmoil and an awful lot of harm from that relationship can be really, really useful.

104) And not to frighten anybody, but my experience of, people extracting themselves from, a relationship that has had this, this kind of setup narcissistic personality disorder, I’ve seen clients take up to two years to be who they are because they have been so almost brainwashed by what they’ve been told.

105) They are by the constant criticisms, by the, you know, the silent treatment, by the constant actually lies that will be in the divorce case, for example. You know, how do you prove a negative if if somebody’s saying in the, in the, divorce, well, you know, unreasonable behaviour because they were out drinking every night and actually they don’t drink at all.

106) How do you prove that? You know? So extracting yourself involves coming into who am I really not, who does that person think I am? So it is a kind of brainwashing that therapy can really help the person come to who am I and how do I move on? Does that answer that for, for, have I answered the questions both of the questions? I think so Jan, as well as we can in a, in a general session, rather than face-to-face and, and it is resonating, somebody just commenting that, you know, they’re still dealing with it, two and a half years later.

107) Yeah. another couple of questions actually on a similar theme that have come through. so you talked about the entitled narcissist and the question is if they feel so entitled, how can they ever compromise? And the other question with an that wants it all and believes they’re entitled to it and their solicitor states that claim and requests themselves, it goes to something I said in my intro, doesn’t it?

108) If you’ve got a narcissist on the other side, are you ever able to con compromise or are you just gonna end up in court? I think that the chances are, if, if you have been in an abusive relationship with someone who’s got a narcissist, so remember I was looking at a continuum of narcissism and that there is a healthy, amount narcissism.

109) But if you are on the receiving end of a pathological extent of narcissism, the chances are there’s been coercive control, there’s been wounding, there’s been a lot of damage. so you know, that person is not going to be able to compromise because they are entitled, and that entitlement is very rigid if the person has an extreme version now of, of this, these traits. So if you have extremely high entitlement, you fit well with somebody who’s got no entitlement at all, that fits really well, but the person who’s got no entitlement at all might have engaged in therapy and self-growth and suddenly thinking, hang on a minute.

110) You know, really, and that’s when the trouble starts. So compromise is almost impossible. That’s not to say it is impossible, but it’s almost impossible. And sometimes it’s going to be a question of going to court because mediation is not going to be a place where things are going to work out.

111) The person with that disorder, in the extreme is going to try everything to charm the mediator. Hopefully the mediator, is going to have, you know, looked into this and recognised what they’re seeing. And the person who’s been on the receiving end of coercive control is often very, crushed. And so it’s quite difficult for them to, you know, say, well, I, you know, I need, or they just get trapped because that dynamic will play out so often mediation is not appropriate at all.

112) so yeah, compromise is very, very difficult. I’m realising the time. and wishing, if I could just say this, wishing I’m seeing things popping up in the chat and just wishing that I was able to connect with e each of you who are putting something in the chat, because each of you have taken this time and I’m sure my whistle stop tour through this difficult subject, has been not a pleasant experience.

113) So I’m just gonna invite you all to take care of yourself, to do something for you when you finished looking at this, this webinar. and thank you for my, putting up with my stumbles. So sorry, Rachel, you No at all, Jen. I’m just gonna, I, I think we’ve run out of time for questions, which is really hugely, annoying because it’s such an important discussion to have and it’s one that resonates, so much with so many people.

114) But I will just say that the final comment that has come into the box, very timelessly, from somebody who was married to a narcissist and says it took two and a half years of his life, but hang on, lost it now, but with support from Paris Smith and their partner, they ended up going all the way to court.

115) and he experienced some degree of healing, let’s say, to hear the judge seeing yes, what had gone on. Yes. And some, some form of redress there. Yes. So thank you for that comment. I’m glad that we were able to support you. And Lisa, is there anything else that you want to pick up? No, I don’t think so. Other than to say, Jan as you identify, I think actually it’s something that we could be talking about all afternoon, isn’t it?

116) So, so I’m very grateful to our participants who have joined us today. obviously we hope you found the session informative. I think from the feedback, you know, you, you hopefully have, as Rachel said in her opening, this session has been recorded and we will be uploading it to our website. so if you want to rewatch it because there was so much to take on board, you know, please feel free to do so. but also signpost anybody that you know that maybe wanted to attend who, who was unable to attend today, signpost them to our website so that, so they can view it.

117) as Rachel said, you’ll also be receiving a feedback form from our marketing team and we really do value your feedback. and if you have any other topics that you would like us to cover in future webinars, please do let us know in that feedback form. if you have any questions that haven’t been dealt with today, or you’d like any further advice, please do not hesitate to contact Rachel or me or any member of family team here at Para Smith. all of our details can be found on our website.

118) And finally, Jan, I’d just like to thank you for your time today, and providing an extremely insightful webinar. you know, as you can see from the feedback, you know, it’s been very well received. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody.

What is the menopause?

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes | 13th November 2023

What is the menopause?

00:00.0 Hi, my name is Sarah Hayes, and I’m a solicitor in the employment team at Paris Smith. Whilst it isn’t a new topic by any means, the menopause has been rapidly gaining momentum within employment law and within the wider media as well. A quarter of women have experienced debilitating symptoms, and over 80 percent have experienced it having an effect on them within the workplace.

00:26.1 It’s a topic which has also gained a lot of traction right up to government level, where there’s been lots of debate and recent consultation around the menopause.

00:39.5 Well, the menopause is a natural stage of life which affects roughly half the population. It usually occurs in women aged between 45 to 55 years old, although it can start earlier than this and it can also start later as well.

What legal protection do employees have for the menopause?

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes | 13th November 2023

What legal protection do employees have for the menopause?

00:00.0 So all employees have protection under the Equality Act, regardless of how long they’ve been employed for, and this includes certain protected characteristics. Now the menopause itself is not recognised as a protected characteristic, but age, sex and disability are types of protected characteristic which are all going to be really relevant here to consider. Now, the menopause is not recognised automatically as a deemed disability.

00:31.4 Disability has a specific legal definition which a tribunal would need to look at, and generally there we’re going to need to look at how long the symptoms have lasted. Or are likely to last and what the day-to-day impact is there to an individual as well. So there’re lots of things there that will need to be considered, and employers will often need to get some medical input here to help them understand this. So they may need to speak to occupational health, or they may need to speak to a GP in order to understand those symptoms and what the impact there is on the individual.

What reasonable adjustments should be made by employers with regards to menopause in the workplace?

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes | 13th November 2023

What reasonable adjustments should be made by employers with regards to menopause in the workplace?

00:00.0 So if an employee is disabled, an employer has a legal obligation there to make reasonable adjustments. And the idea is there that the reasonable adjustments are going to try and help to alleviate some of those disadvantages that that individual is suffering as a consequence of their disability.

00:20.5 Now there’s lots of different examples of what a reasonable adjustment will be, and that will really depend on the individual themselves and what they’re experiencing. Sometimes we’re looking at practical adjustments, so in terms of their physical working environment, we might be looking at the temperature, ventilation, other types of practical changes.

00:40.6 So employers are legally also responsible for the health and safety of their workforce and their employees and that includes individuals that are working from home as well. So very broadly they should be carrying out risk assessments on a regular basis so that they can monitor that and they can keep in touch with any changes which may be needed.

00:57.5  And part of that is going to be considering as well whether an individual that’s suffering with menopause or symptoms, whether there are any changes that may be needed there to support their working environment.

What should employers do to support staff during the menopause?

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes | 13th November 2023

What should employers do to support staff during the menopause?

00:05.0 So employers need to be mindful that the menopause can impact on staff in a variety of different ways and there’re lots of different symptoms and experiences that people will be having. As a starting point, managers should be trained and familiar with what the menopause is, what the different stages are and what the symptoms are that staff may be experiencing.

00:24.0 It can be really helpful to consider whether you have a menopause champion or a well being champion in the workplace. So that staff have someone approachable, somebody that is comfortable to go and speak to if they are experiencing any problems and they want someone there that they can just go and have a chat with.

00:40.2 And ideally that should be held in a confidential, private setting. We don’t want those meetings to be disturbed or for the employee to feel uncomfortable. So we want to think there about making sure that those are happening in an appropriate environment.

Do we need a policy for the menopause?

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Hayes | 13th November 2023

Do we need a policy for the menopause?

00:00.0  So it’s not currently mandatory to have a menopause policy, so you’re not legally required to have one. However, it can be quite a helpful document to have a think about. A menopause policy will often signpost an employee to what support is available internally within the organisation and how they can go about approaching that.

00:22.5 So it can be quite a useful document to put in place as a way of making sure staff know how to go about accessing that support and help should they need to do so. And whilst it’s not currently mandatory, it is something that the government is aware of and has been discussing, and therefore there could be changes in the future where in which it could become more required or more custom and expected within organisations.

 00.44.7 So I hope you found that a useful overview of the menopause, how it interacts with employment law, and what steps employers should be taking to support their workforce. If you do require any support or assistance with the menopause or anything we’ve discussed in this series of videos, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with myself or any member of the employment team at Paris Smith.

01:05.1 As a department, we also offer a range of training, including topics such as the menopause, and we can deliver those in house, bespoke to the organisation. So if that is of interest to you, again, please get in touch with us, and we’d be very happy to chat that through.

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