HR Documentation

It is recommended that employers have HR and legal Professionals to create legal documentation, this ensures that any documents are robust and legally compliant.

If contracts of employment are not written correctly and do not contain the necessary information to protect companies, then companies could face payments of up to £95,000 if a dispute is taken to an employment tribunal.

Contracts of employment are the backbone of the relationship between employer and employee and therefore it is paramount this is correct.

If companies fail to inform employees about their terms and conditions of employment this could result in a claim of unfair dismissal being made against the company.

Failure to have HR policies can prove critical for any business. Some businesses think that if things are running smoothly there is no need to worry about documenting policies, procedures, and processes. This can be a serious mistake as it overlooks the importance of risk management practices.

Not having the correct HR policies and correct HR planning can have a dangerous and negative effect on the productivity of a business.

In the UK, a contract of employment can consist of express terms, which must comply with any minimum legal standards such as the right to paid holidays and the right to daily and weekly rest breaks, and implied terms which are usually not stated in the contract but are incorporated in some other way, for example a duty of mutual trust and confidence between the employer and employee.

An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and employee that sets out important information such as:

• Employment conditions
• Employees rights
• Employees responsibilities
• Employees duties

These are all known as the terms of an employment contract.

Employment contracts are important for employees, as when joining a new company employees need to know what is expected of them and what support they will get from the company. Along with this, employees need to know that if they do not do what is expected of them, what the consequences will be.

It is not a legal requirement for employers to have an Employee Handbook, however they can be useful to implement and have in place. Employee Handbooks can be an important resource and reference document for all employees.

Just as every business is different, so is the contents of the employee handbook. The handbook should contain information on all workplace regulations. As a general rule, the contents would cover topics such as:

• Disciplinary procedures
• Sickness absence policies
• Grievance and harassment
• Equal opportunities
• Capability procedures

All new employees should be given a ‘handbook’, which sets out the practices and procedures that your company follows. This is in addition to the employee’s contract of employment. Handbooks give each and every employee a set of written rules under which

It is crucial that handbooks are tailored to complement your business. Disciplinary procedures vary across industries, and to some extent you can set the rules. After all, this is your business! Ultimately you have the overall say in what you believe to be acceptable and unacceptable and should adapt it to take this into account.

Ultimately, it is in your company’s interest to have an up to date and factually correct employee handbook.

It is a legal requirement that employers make sure their employees are aware of all company policies.

HR policies and procedures are important to businesses as they provide structure, control, consistency, reasonableness, and fairness to all employees. They ensure compliance with employment legislation and let employees know what the company responsibilities are and what their individual responsibilities are.

Poor HR or no HR policies can affect businesses by having:

• Unhappy employees – will not be engaged in their specific job responsibilities or duties, which can lead to an unproductive workforce;
• Dissatisfied customers – unhappy employees do not make customers happy as employees will treat customers the way the business treats them. Customers who have bad experiences can also spread negative comments that can damage the reputation of a business;
• High employee turnover – this can be a result of bad HR planning by not understanding why employees leave their job to ensure this doesn’t happen next time;
• Loss of business – if experienced employees leave a business then the business could also lose clients that they built a good relationship with. Experienced employees have extensive knowledge of products, services, systems and processes which makes them valuable.
• Increased costs – high employee turnover increases business costs. The recruiting costs to replace employees on average cost businesses approximately one fifth of an employee’s salary.

There are other policies that are not legally required, however, it is considered best practice to have these in place for companies these include:

• Equal Opportunities
• Sickness and leave of absence
• Flexible Working
• Training and Development
• Bullying and Harassment
• Code of conduct
• Internet and email
• Drug and Alcohol
• Social media
• Privacy policy

When creating policies, it is important to ensure policies are clear and specific and that they provide flexibility to meet changing conditions in a business.