HR Policies

There are five key policies that we recommend to every business.

You are required to have a written statement on how you’ll deal with disciplinary and grievance issues so these are two policies that you absolutely need.  Then, we suggest that you have an absence policy as absence issues are common in businesses, and it’s important for you to set out the rules surrounding all of the difference absence types (holiday, sickness, compassionate leave etc.).

Also, you’ll need an equality policy which we strongly recommend as it helps establish your business as an equal opportunities employer.  It makes it clear that you do not tolerate discriminatory behaviour of any type and is the start of setting the tone of your organisation.

Finally, you’ll need a set of policies regarding GDPR for HR to ensure you are compliant with managing personal information about your employees. There could very well be additional policies that are specific to your sector (Safeguarding Policy in a childcare setting as an example) and we can give you guidance on these as well.

Yes.

Whilst having HR policies is necessary, they don’t fulfil your legal obligations for provision of HR documentation.

You are required to confirm in writing some key elements of an employee’s terms and conditions of employment with you, and many organisations use this as an opportunity to also add some additional obligations around the employment relationship (confidentiality requirements, intellectual property and post termination restrictions). So, you’ll probably also want an employment contract.

Something else you may want to consider is having a complete employee handbook rather than a set of individual policies.  An employee handbook contains all of the policies mentioned above but also has lots more.  It covers all of the various types of family leave, policies on whistle blowing and anti-corruption and more. We can discuss all options when you contact us.

When it comes to implementing policies, the process should be fairly straight forward but this will depend on the level of change that you’re achieving with these policies. 

If the policies are really just confirming statutory rights and obligations then you can simply inform employees of their existence.  You don’t need to go through any consultation process as they are simply confirming the law.

However, if you’re implementing policies that change how things are currently done in your organisation then you may need to go through a consultation process.

We’ll discuss this with you when you speak with us and let you know what to expect and how we can help you.