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For further information on:
What Employment Policies do I need?
Most Employers will provide policies so that their staff know the rules and procedures they need to follow. This allows you, as the Employer, to comply with legislation and allows you to deal consistently with issues in your business which helps you to avoid problems that are time-consuming and could be costly. The policies you should consider having, because they have
legal minimum requirements, are:
- Pay
- Equal Opportunities
- Working Hours and Overtime (including Working Time Directive)
- Disciplinary Procedure and Grievance, Harrassment and Bullying
- Sickness, Absence without Leave (which can include Jury Service)
- Maternity and Adoption, Parental Leave and Paternal Leave
- Time off for Dependants
- Flexible Working
- Health and Safety.
Other policies you may want to consider (depending on the size of your business and its activities) are:
- a Recruitment Policy (which usually includes Equal Opportunties elements)
- an Expected Standards of Behaviour Policy which will usually group together various topics and include Harrassment and Bullying (e.g. of topics include Conduct and Appearance; the Right to Search; Telephone/Correspondence/Internet/E-mail usage policies/Data Protection (see below); Smoking and the use of other Substances at Work; Confidentiality and Exclusivity of Service; Whistleblowing – including the Bribery Act requirements; Receipt of gifts)
- a Leaving the Firm Policy (which usually includes notice periods, resignations, redundancies, other dismissals, retirement).
- Data Protection and Internet and E-mail policies. Another important area for your business, as it grows, is to ensure you have Internet and E-mail policies in place so that the rights, responsibilites and limitations of all who use your business technology are understood; and so that unauthorised and careless use and any legal risks are minimised.
ACAS produce a guide to establishing these data protection policies so that your employees can differentiate between their business and personal use of your technology. The guide also gives advice on monitoring usage and the laws you need to consider, eg the Data Protection Act. Click here http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=313&p=0
With regard to Data Protection laws, The Information Commissioners Office provides Good Practice Recommendations on what the Data Protection Act means for businesses and how to keep employment records. Click here
http://www.ico.gov.uk/fororganisations/topicspecific_guides/employment.aspx
Employee Representatives, Trade Union recognition and the Legal requirements to Consult your staff
- Legislation called the Information and Consultation of Employee Regulations (2004) require Employers to establish arrangements for informing and consulting employees by way of a negotiated agreement or the standard provisions laid down by the regulations – if this consultation is required by 10% of the workforce (or the Employer chooses to start the process themselves).
- From April 2008 this applies to businesses with 50 or more staff. Under the ICE regulations Employees have a right to be informed and consulted on a regular basis about issues in the business for which they work (e.g. business direction, mergers, job losses, health and safety etc).
- Any of your employees can belong to a Trade Union of their choice. You cannot discriminate against an employee (in any way) because they are, or are not, a member of a Trade Union.
- As an Employer, if you recognise a Trade Union, you have a duty to discuss information that a Union representative requests, if this is appropriate. ACAS has a Code of Practice on the required Disclosure of Information to Trade Unions – which can be found here http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=273&p=0
- Collective Bargaining is one way that Employers work with Trade Unions to negotiate things like terms and conditions of employment. If you do not voluntarily agree to recognise a Trade Union for Collective Bargaining purposes, a Trade Union can invoke a statutory recognition procedure to obtain collective bargaining rights if your organisation has 21 or more employees.
Problems at Work:
- There are many issues you may face when employing staff – BusinessLink provide good information about all issues in this area, in their Employment and Skills section, ‘Resolving Problems at Work’ - http://www.businesslink.gov.uk
Disciplinary, Dismissal and Grievances –
This can be a crucial area for your business. In 2009 a new ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures was introduced, which it is important to follow (see the full details on the
main Workline site).
The new ACAS Code has 45 steps and provides basic practical advice on handling such situations in the Workplace. The Code emphasises that:
- Employer and Employees should seek to resolve disciplinary and grievance issues in the workplace and where this is not possible should seek independent 3rd party help (mediation) to resolve the problem. This 3rd party may come from inside your organisation (as long as they are not involved in the issue) or outside.
- Most potential disciplinary or grievance issues can be resolved informally. But where this is not possible and it needs to be pursued formally the Code sets out the basic requirements of fairness that will be applicable in most cases.
Failure to follow the code itself does not make an Employer liable to Employment Tribunal proceedings. However, Employment Tribunals will take the Code into account when deciding Unfair Dismissal awards and if the Employer has not reasonably followed the Code then an Employees award can be increased by up to 25%.
Absences and Sickness/Attendance Management
- All employees and workers have a right to receive SSP (Statutory Sickness Pay) as long as they meet the qualifying conditions (see the Workine section on SSP).
- In the UK, Absences cost employers a lot of money. ACAS have produced a guide to attendance management which explains how to reduce high absence levels – click here
- In addition, Employers have a duty under Health and Safety legislation to control risks from work-related stress, and a duty under common law to take reasonable care to ensure the proper health and safety of their employees. Workplace Stress issues are on the rise and ACAS have produced an advisory leaflet on the subject, click here http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=815
Giving References for previous Employees
An Employer does generally not have to give a departing employee a reference unless it is a requirement of the employment contract.
Giving references can be a complicated area and you need to consider carefully the legal implications of providing a reference:
- make sure what you say is true, accurate and a fair representation of the person (Data Protection legislation comes into play here).
- as an ex-employee could bring an action against you for libel, discrimination or defamation of character, if they consider the reference to be inaccurate.
Further details can be found on the Business Link website
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk - in their ‘Employment and Skills’ section, ‘Staff Exits’.
Your Insurance needs and obligations
As an Employer you will need to consider a number of different types of Insurance. Some are Compulsory:
- Employers Liability
- Motor Insurance (if your business uses vehicles)
- Professional Indemnity (if you provide advice).
Other types of insurance you may also need are:
- Buildings and Contents
- Equipment
- Public Liability.
The BusinessLink website has an interactive tool to advise you of the correct insurance for your business needs – in their Health, Safety and Premises section. And also provide more information in their Starting Up, Financial Control, ‘Business insurance: the basics’ section.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk
More information can also be found on the Association of British Insurers website - http://www.abi.org.uk/information/Business/InsuranceAdvicefor_Businesses.aspx
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If you work in the UK Media Industries and have a question about this or any other topic, please e-mail us at workline@freelanceadvisor.co.uk
If you are an Employer and need ongoing professional help with any staff/freelance issues then talk to us at The HR Kiosk (click here) - a Human Resources Consultancy for small businesses – you can retain us for as much time as you need.
Workline is supported by Employment Lawyers Goodman Derrick LLP. Please note that the advice given on this website and by our Advisors is guidance only and cannot be taken as an authoritative interpretation of the law. It can also not be seen as specific advice for individual cases. Please also note that there are differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.
