MacRoberts Launches Unique Interactive iPhone App On Employment Law
We are delighted to have launched our free interactive HR Adviser App on iTunes.
Not only is it a valuable source of information about employment, but it also contains unique redundancy and unfair dismissal calculators. Whether you're in law, business or are an HR professional, you can't afford to be without it!
Read the full story below or download our free HR adviser App from iTunes.
Employers and HR professionals who are being inundated by the ever-increasing requirements of UK employment law may now be tempted turn to their iPhones when the demands become too great.
MacRoberts LLP, a leading Scottish law firm, is launching HR Adviser, the UK’s first iPhone app which has an interactive unfair dismissal compensation calculator. The free app, which has gained approval from Apple for inclusion in the iStore, also has an interactive redundancy calculator and useful information regarding UK employment law with useful contacts and websites links.
HR Adviser is the brainchild of MacRoberts specialist Employment Team and David Flint, Head of the IP, Technology and Communications Group at MacRoberts.
The overview of the major elements of employment law has been designed by the firm as part of its drive to utilise all the benefits of modern technology and find ever more efficient ways of assisting and communicating with its clients.
David said: “We have listened very carefully to our HR clients and have developed a practical, useful and relevant app which addresses the issues HR professionals face every day in an increasingly difficult employment law environment. The MacRoberts App has raised this service to a new level and now provides uniquely enhanced features such as the compensation calculator.”
“There is great enthusiasm within the firm for finding new ways of enhancing the technological service we provide to our clients and employment law was identified very quickly as an area in which we could significantly add value. Many of our clients are large employers and they have issues with employment law all the time. It is an area in which reliable information is often needed quickly and it lends itself to an information-based system such as HR Adviser.”
The app, which launches today (12 July 2011), includes sections on areas which are of the greatest current relevance to employers, such as unfair dismissal, redundancy, maternity and paternity leave, equal pay and discrimination, as well as Frequently Asked Questions. Details of the current statutory rates, such as the minimum wage, are automatically updated so that the information the app provides is always current and relevant.
The interactive calculator function for redundancy situations will allow the user to input details such as age, length of service and salary, whereupon the app will calculate the resulting estimated statutory redundancy payment.
Unlike other applications, it will include an invaluable compensation calculator. This will provide employers and HR professionals with an estimate of the likely award at tribunal should an employee raise an unfair dismissal claim.
David Flint said: “Others have shied away from compensation estimates because of the considerable amount of variables involved, but we have included - and highlighted - some reasonable presumptions, allowing us to provide an informed assessment which will be of real value to HR professionals. The feedback has been very positive.”
What also makes MacRoberts HR Adviser different from other, less sophisticated apps is that it does not need to be connected to the internet, so even while on a long flight or train journey where connectivity is an issue the user will still be able to use all the functions of the calculators.
The app can take users directly to information about particular spheres of expertise of MacRoberts partners and their contact details. It will have relevant links to government sites and bodies such as ACAS and the Equal Opportunities Commission.
David said: “Each section of the app will contain a brief section on the law and we will have the capability to update and add to it as well as issue alerts to users when there are changes which could potentially affect them.”
With more than 40 million iPhone users worldwide in 2010 and a projected 100 million users by the end of 2011, the potential market for the HR Adviser is huge, though David points out that it applies only to UK law.
He said: “It contains useful and conveniently retrievable information which will be of value to anyone employing people within the UK, whether they be major multinational companies, public sector bodies or small businesses with a few employees. The app allows employers to familiarise themselves with the basic facts and helps them make an initial decision before seeking professional advice about the wider implications.”
MacRoberts, David added, is a long established firm, and one of the reasons for its longevity is its ability to harness new developments to keep its offering to clients current and relevant. The firm has installed an interactive webcam on the roof of Capella, delivering panoramic views of Glasgow and the Clyde Valley, and there are plans to launch video blogging on the website.
He said: “We will be able to gauge the success of HR Adviser by the number of downloads it generates and, as it develops, we will be looking at other specialist groups within the firm which lend themselves to the technology.”
You can download the MacRoberts HR Adviser on any iPhone for free from iTunes at this link: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/macroberts-hr-adviser/id442404261?mt=8
© MacRoberts 2011
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For further information on legal service provided by our Employment Law Group, please click here.