You probably have systems and processes in place for the work that your business does even if they are mostly still in your head rather than written down. Likewise, when it comes to employing people, a few simple processes will help to keep you legally compliant in managing your staff.
Here are a few essentials we suggest you put in place:
- Create personnel files for each employee that store all of their data in one place that you can access easily but that maintains confidentiality and complies with any data protection regulations:
- these can be paper based, but we would recommend an electronic management system, not only do they comply with data protection regulations they are much easier to manage and include record keeping for annual leave and other absences
- it should provide you with a historical account of their employment
- Ensure any policies or procedures you have, for example your disciplinary and grievance rules, are easily accessible by all staff, and that you have a system for controlling the documents so that only the most current versions are referred to
- Introduce a holiday booking and record keeping process so that everyone knows:
- how much holiday they are entitled to & what they have taken
- how to get a holiday request approved & who by
- who else is on holiday when so that holiday can be planned
- how many people can be on holiday at any one time
- the procedure / rules for Bank Holidays
- Establish a sickness absence recording process that includes a self-certificate and a way of monitoring sickness absence levels – more on this in a future post
- Decide if you need a procedure for other business areas which might include:
- vehicle use
- use of company property
- claiming expenses
Whilst no small business wants to be overly rule driven or bound by heaps of unnecessary paperwork, it is worth spending time introducing the procedures that will keep you in control of your business and make managing your staff as easy as possible.
We can help create bespoke processes that will really work for your business contact us