The chance to take an active role in the criminal justice system as one of 12 people on a jury, deliberating the defendant's fate. A third of people called for jury service manage to excuse themselves. The Auld recommendations will make this more difficult.
Theoretically, a fortnight without the employee who has been summoned and the skills and tasks which they bring to the company. In practice, it may be less or, in rare cases, more (despite their dramatic potential, long and grisly murder trials don't occur that often)
Employment law is, in any case, a mine field. Take advice from the start and build contingency practices for jury service and statutory call up into your employment policy
You, your company and your staff will be seen as good and conscientious citizens. It will add to the team's collective life experience pool, providing extra motivation and interest
Contingency plans will cost at some point. But the plans themselves should give you ample time to prepare for the extra hit and guard against nasty surprises.
You probably like to think of yourself as a pillar of the community. Doubtless you take every opportunity to promote your business as the good citizen it surely is. And if you and your staff take off the odd day to raise funds for Children in Need or Comic Relief, so much the better. There's nothing like sitting in a tub of baked beans for generating good local PR.
But if plans to overhaul the criminal justice system proceed, the conflict between civic responsibility and the day-to-day imperatives of running a small business will amount to rather more than a wet tee-shirt contest. The government wants juries to be more representative of society, particularly its professional elements. That means if you or a key employee are one of the 250,000 people each year who receives a summons for jury service, it could be much harder to negotiate a deferment with the court.
Nobody could reasonably argue against the premise. But in reality, it poses significant potential challenges for the small and medium sized company which relies, by definition, on a team of committed individuals being available to build a young business. The standard fortnight's absence - possibly longer in the admittedly rare event of a long murder or fraud trial - represents a major dent in your human resources, however temporary.
