• Care home – HR support
• Contracts of employment
• Children’s nursery – HR support
• Disciplinary procedures
• Employee handbooks
• Employment tribunal claims
• Equality Act 2010
• Flexible working requests
• Maternity leave rights
• Redundancy procedures & business restructuring
• Restrictive covenants – employer
• Retirement age issues
• Sickness absence
• TUPE regulations
• Whistleblowing

Employee handbooks

The typical matters that a handbook will deal with include procedures for staff sickness absence, taking holidays, taking any other time off such as maternity and paternity leave, flexible working policies, policies on working from home, rules relating to email and internet use, disciplinary and grievance procedures, equal opportunities procedures, any workplace rules, dress codes, health and safety policy etc

A Wise Employer

• Considers what policies it needs and tailors them accordingly.
• Uses them as a management tool
• Trains its managers on the key provisions
• Makes a copy of the Employee Handbook accessible to all staff
• Keeps a record that each staff member has read the Employee handbook and will abide by the contents

An Unwise Employer

• Has a collection of policies that suit other businesses but not their own
• Sees the Employee Handbook as a “tick box” exercise
• Rarely if ever refers to the handbook
• Has unwieldy and complex written policies that managers fail to understand
• Never updates policies and procedures..... until a dispute arises

Other useful policies to include could be:-

1. Restrictions on using mobile phones whilst driving
2. Expense claims policy
3. Whistleblowing policy
4. Procedures for compassionate leave/bereavement leave
5. Training – including an obligation to attend training and any repayment of course fees
6. Data Protection policy
7. Redundancy policy
8. Fitness to attend work/drugs and alcohol policy
9. E-communications policy to include appropriate use of email, outlook contact management, and a restriction on downloading company data and information

Beware that parts of an employee handbook could be considered to have contractual effect. There is therefore scope for an employee to try to rely on a term found in the handbook as a contractual entitlement. If this is not intended then the handbook needs to say so.

Disclaimer – The contents of this page are provided for general guidance only and do not replace the need to obtain legal advice about any given situation.