The simple things...

I am constantly reminded how the simple things, or rather the failure to deal with the simple things, can get an employer into hot water.

The simplest thing when you take on a new employee, be it on a permanent or temporary basis, is to give them written terms and conditions. It is so simple in fact, that the law says you have to do this within 8 weeks of an employee starting work. The danger of not giving an employee such a letter is that an employee could take issue with this and bring a claim to a Tribunal. An Employment Tribunal has the power to award between 2 - 4 weeks salary for a failure to provide an employee with their written particulars. A harsh slap on the wrist for something which is seemingly so simple!

It does not need to be a fancy contract, drafted by a snazzy lawyer, costing you a lot of money to prepare, and does not need to be printed on watermarked paper. It need only be a single page setting out the basic "who, where, what, why, when and how much".

It is surprising how many employers following recruitment fail to put this in place. This can be for a number of reasons and usually it has to do with time. Recruitment is often usually done out of need and sometimes has to be done quickly. Another reason is that it is a job that has been delegated to "someone else" and "someone else" has failed to carry out that task. Oops.

The easiest way is to have a template letter pre-prepared on the office computer and ready to print out to give to a new starter so they know the terms that they are working under. The template could even be printed out and the gaps filled in by hand if there is any technophobia or simply no one to delegate the task to.

If you want to be able to delegate all HR tasks to an effective and efficient "someone else" who knows about HR, but you cannot justify employing an HR manager within your business - consider outsourcing this job. Don't forget that our outsourcing packages start for as little as £50 per month!

If you have read this and thought, "I need to get my hands on a template like that and pronto!" Drop me an e-mail and I will send you a template free of charge.

emma@effective-hrm.co.uk