5OS01: Acenez Research Labs (ARL) is an innovative scientific organization Its goal is to research digital health solutions: Specialist employment law Case study, UOL, UK

Acenez Research Labs (ARL) is an innovative scientific organization. Its goal is to research digital health solutions and transform medicine development in the future. It is a small UK company based in Cambridge and until recently employed 30 staff. It was set up by two biologists around five years ago, and they manage the operations of the company in addition to carrying out their own research.

Due to the global pandemic, ARL has received funding from a number of organizations to develop its research, which has resulted in the recruitment of over 60 new staff, including 15 managers. The recruited managers are excellent biologists but have limited management experience dealing with HR-related matters.

Up until recently, the organization has not had an HR department, with most HR tasks carried out by one of the Senior Directors. However, a number of grievances and employment cases have been raised and must be addressed.

You have been appointed as an external consultant for ARL. You will provide employment legislation advice to the Directors of HR and help them reduce the number of complaints and grievances. The Director has given you examples of the current problems within ARLand has asked for your advice. The plan is to develop a manager’s toolkit, to be used for training purposes in the future.