As a responsible employer, there are some human resources policies and procedures that are essential for your company to have. Your employees are probably the biggest cost to your business. To make the most of this valuable and expensive resource, you need to make sure you’re doing everything right and that your HR policies and procedures are not only legal and appropriate, but also fit their purpose.
In many companies, especially smaller ones, HR policies and procedures. H H. they are usually near the bottom of the priority list, if they appear at all. In many of these companies, the human resources function is the responsibility of one employee who may have secretarial, payroll, or office administration duties, as well as other responsibilities. Often your HR role is limited to dealing with new and departing incumbents.
The daunting task many companies face is knowing where to start and what HR policies and procedures they need to have in place to comply with the law.
There are a dozen HR policies or procedures that every company should have. This article will walk you through each one and briefly explain why it’s essential that you have it.
1. Specification of positions and personal profiles:
It is important to get the hiring process right to hire the best person for the position. That means you must have a written job specification, which adequately describes the job function. That’s a start, but you also need its counterpart: the personal profile. This document outlines the qualities, qualifications, and experiences necessary to successfully perform the job function described in the job description.
These documents must be specific to the role. Without them, you can’t measure an employee’s performance. You also cannot praise them or take corrective action if you have never told them what is expected of them.
This topic is covered in detail in the next article in this series: Why you need a job specification and personal profile.
2. Employment contracts:
Certain terms and conditions of employment are required by law to be in writing and given to the employee within eight weeks of the start of their employment. These include the main terms and conditions of employment, such as pay, overtime pay, vacation pay, normal work hours, collective agreements, etc. The employment contract should also direct your employee to other important policies and procedures that they should be aware of.
3. Management of trial periods:
This policy should set forth the behavior, work, and attitude standards and expectations for all new employees. It’s best to make it part of your induction process. Most new employees go through a trial period. This gives you time to assess whether the new hire is cutting the mustard, or if, with additional training, they will reach the required standard within a reasonable amount of time, or if it was a misappointment. This policy should help guide the new employee and their managers in reviewing performance, and also in deciding whether to confirm the appointment at the end of the probationary period.
4. Performance Management:
This is closely linked to the management of trial periods since, in reality, it is an extension of that policy. It provides a clear and transparent method to deal with any performance or capacity issues. It is also linked to your termination and disciplinary policy, as some instances of unacceptable performance may be intentional and not caused by lack of training or ability.
5 and 6. Discipline and dismissal policy and complaint procedure:
It is a legal requirement that you have these policies and procedures. They must describe their dismissal and disciplinary policy and their grievance procedure, both of which must include an appeal mechanism.
7. Sick Leave and Sick Pay:
This policy, which is suitable for inclusion in the employment contract, establishes your rules for notifying absence due to illness or disability, whether the employee can self-certify his absence and, if so, for how long and what pay he will have. be entitled during such periods of absence.
8. Right to vacation:
All full-time employees in the UK are entitled to at least 5.6 weeks of paid leave per year. This is limited to 28 days, which may include bank holidays and public holidays. These are sometimes called Work Time Holidays or WTR. If you award more vacation than the legal minimum, you can set rules to carry over unused vacation to the next vacation year. Please note, however, that WTR vacations are non-transferable.
9. Use of IT:
Especially with the temptations of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and the Internet, it’s best to let your employees know clearly ahead of time what IT use is and isn’t acceptable. This policy must also cover employees using their own devices during normal business hours or in the course of their work.
10.Data Protection Policy:
This is an important policy. It is not just about what data you store, including personal data and sensitive personal data, but how and where you store it, how and where it is processed, and how you protect it. Failure to protect this data could not only lead to a huge loss of customer goodwill, but also a fine that is large enough, potentially, to seriously affect the future of your company.
11. Equal opportunities:
The Equality Act 2010 brought together in one place all the separate pieces of UK law relating to discrimination and harassment. It is very important to make sure that you know and understand your business obligations, and that your employees know what to do and what not to do or say.
12. Appraisal policy:
Many companies, especially smaller ones, consider a formal evaluation policy optional. I do not agree. A good appraisal policy helps both you and your employee identify your weaknesses and allows you to design an appropriate training program to help you make the necessary improvements.
Such a policy also gives you an objective basis for considering payment reviews.
13. The manufacturing weight:
The requirements of health and safety legislation permeate all aspects of employment, from choosing a work team, assessing the risks of a task, to reporting accidents at work. As a legal minimum, you should have a health and safety policy statement. This is basic information that tells staff what you and they need to do to make sure your business is compliant with health and safety law.
Health and safety policies are job, activity and site specific. Because of this, it is common for companies to incorporate their health and safety policy into their staff handbook by reference.
This baker’s dozen or so HR policies and procedures are the bare minimum you need to ensure your company is compliant.
How do your HR policies and procedures compare to this list? Are they up to date?
Each of these thirteen policies and procedures is discussed in more detail in separate articles in this series, beginning with Why you need a job specification and personal profile.
