Page 3 - The Star SME Toolkit 2019: Business Experts Give Their Advice

Wednesday,September25,2019 www.thestar.co.uk THESTAR 3
HUMAN RESOURCES
in association with
CONTACT
FIVE TOP TIPS TO HELP PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS
Prevention is better than cure with employment law issues
The employment law rela- tionship can often be one of the most overwhelming and time consuming areas for business managers.
package, called Employer Assist which allows us to work with the business closely throughout the year, providing advice and support on all sorts of HR matters including ethical recruit- ment, the drafting of staff
Following best practice and
staying on the right side of
the law would be our advice,
butweknowinre-
alityit’snotalways tancewithpoten-
policies and handbooks through to assis-
that easy to do. Very often
our employ-
m e n t l a w
solicitors get
instructed matters,includingethical jones.co.uk/
when some-
thing has gone
wrong, when
actually we’re here
to help you get it right, and prevent costly problems from occurring in the first place.
Prevention is always bet- ter and we’ve outlined below our five tips to help protect your business.
We offer local businesses a fixed price annual retainer
‘We provide support and adviceonallsortofHR
n Visit https://www. b a n n e r -
recruitment’
tial claims.
for-busi- ness/services/ employment-law formoreinformation
Katie Ash, Head of Employment Law, Banner Jones, 11 Leopold Street,Sheffield S1 2GY.
T: 0114 275 5266
E: KatieAsh@bannerjones.co.uk
Katie Ash, head of employment law at Banner Jones
P u t c l e a r p o 2l i c i e s i n p l a c e
A policy for everything isn’t disciplinary and grievance
necessary, but some policies matters, make sure are crucial and should be you comply with the incorporated into every relevant ACAS Code workplace and followed. of Practice, other-
The basics include: discipli- wise compensation nary and grievance, health in an employment
and safety, anti-bribery, tribunal claim can be equal opportunities, whistleblow- increased by up to 25 per cent ing, internet and social media and for failure to follow a procedure family-friendly leave. In the case of that complies with the code.
G e t c o n t r a c 1t s s i g n e d
It’s been a legal requirement issued – let alone for employers to provide a signed by the statement setting out the employee and
main terms and conditions returned! If you
of employment to their end up before employees since 1963, and an employment this document must be given tribunal defending to an employee within two a claim, the tribunal
months of them starting work. Despite this, many employers still don’t make sure that these are
won’t look too favourably on an employer who hasn’t even put the basics in place.
3 Be reasonable with all your employees
This applies in all your dealings with your employ- ees, from open communication with staff to
engender a happy and engaged workforce through to dealing with any issues that
arise in the workplace, including disci- plinary and grievance matters. Lots of employment tribunal claims focus on ask- ing the question: “What would a reason-
able employer do [in this situation]?” It’s therefore important not to act in haste, and
to take a reasoned and measured approach when something happens in the workplace.
Keep records on everything
Your paper trail is crucial. You need to make sure that you keep a record of what is said and done when d4ealing with your employees. From the contract being signed and placed on the personnel file to documenting any informal discussions make sure
that there is a full record of any formal process undertaken. If you ever end up defending an employ- ment tribunal claim, the records you made will help the tribunal and often can tip the balance in your favour.
5 Keep up to date with all the latest changes
Employment law usually changes in April and October every year, so keep up to date and
review the contents of your contracts of employment and policies regularly, ensur- ing that employees and those responsible
for implementing the policies are aware of any changes. To help with this, we offer bespoke ‘Employment law 101’ in house
training for businesses, which is particu- larly useful for line managers and those
dealing with employee relations to ensure that they know what they need to do, and when.
Katie Ash