Forty employers and HR professionals attended an Employment Law seminar held in Essex by Pure and Birkett Long, designed to provide practical HR workshops and employment law updates for local businesses.

Now a regular fixture in the Essex business calendar, the latest seminar was held at the Holiday Inn in Brentwood on Wednesday 10 May. It was facilitated by Ben Farrow, Associate Director at professional recruitment specialists Pure, alongside Martin Hopkins, employment law partner at law firm Birkett Long.

The event focussed on updates to the minimum wage and an overview of gender pay gap reporting, to coincide with legislation coming into force for employers with 250 or more employees. There was also a discussion on the rise of the gig economy and the potential benefits and pitfalls for employers. The gig economy is used to refer to a growing number of people working on short term contracts, or as freelancers, and who get paid per ‘gig’ as opposed to permanent, salaried positions.

Ben Farrow, Associate Director at Pure’s Chelmsford office said: “We hold seminars like this because we are committed to supporting the continued professional development of people in the eastern region. It makes a difference to people’s day to day lives and to their long-term career progression.  It also helps to contribute to the growth of our regional economy. This same ethos is shared by Birkett Long and we’re proud to have been working with the firm to deliver these employment law seminars for several years now.

“This latest seminar was extremely well attended. It was great to see such a diverse spread of different businesses taking part, both public and private, including pharmaceutical, retail, construction, housing, engineering, automotive and insurance. This shows how relevant these events are to a wide range of different industries. Whatever sector you operate in, it can difficult for employers to continually keep up-to-date with changes in HR-related regulations. Our aim is to provide a simplified yet comprehensive update for them and to give them a chance to come together and to discuss current challenges with their peers.”

All those who attended also qualified for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) hours if they were working towards a professional management qualification.

For more information on future Employment Law Seminars to be held in the region contact Ben Farrow on ben.farrow@prs.uk.com