As an employer, you must know how employment laws and policies operate. These policies, also known as procedures, help explain how your employees should act, so they should be clear and concise so that your employees know their responsibilities. This article will explain three of the key employment policies that every business needs.
1. Health and Safety Policy
The Health and Safety Executive regulates health and safety for businesses in England and Wales. For example, this government agency can guide your business in complying with health and safety laws.
If your business has over five or more employees, by law, you must have a written health and safety policy in place and bring this document to your employees' attention. If your business does not have a health and safety policy in place, you could face criminal penalties such as a hefty fine or imprisonment.
However, if you have fewer than five employees, it is still a good practice to have this policy to ensure the health and safety of your employees in the workplace.
When producing your business' health and safety policy, you should ensure the policy includes:
- a statement regarding your business' commitment to ensuring a safe workplace and complying with your legal duties;
- who is responsible for the policy;
- information on the employees' duties concerning health and safety at work;
- a clear explanation of the health and safety procedures and arrangements for your business;
- risk assessments; and
- how to deal with drug and alcohol misuse.
You should apply your health and safety policy consistently across your business and ensure you review it from time to time to check that it is compliant with any changes to the law and continues to be suitable for the workplace.
2. Policies for Disciplinary Issues and Dismissal
Disciplinary issues concern an employee's conduct, such as issues regarding lateness or unacceptable behaviour. Issues concerning an employee's performance in the role will be managed under your capability or performance management policy.
As a business in England, you should have policies or procedures to manage conduct issues and encourage employee improvement, to maintain satisfactory standards. You should also follow the ACAS Code of Practice: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, as not doing so can affect any compensation you may be required to pay your employees and the results of any employment tribunal claim.
In the employment contract, you should refer your employees to your disciplinary policies and procedures or provide them with a copy of your handbook.
As an employer, you should be able to show that you have followed your disciplinary policy to help reduce the risk of unfair dismissal or discrimination claims.
For instance, your disciplinary policy should be fair and detail that you will:
- let your employees know in writing what the allegations against them are;
- meet with your employee to talk over the allegations and give them reasonable time to prepare for the meeting;
- notify your employees of their right to be accompanied to the meeting by a work colleague; and
- offer your employee the ability to appeal against any actions you take, including dismissal.
3. Grievance Policy
As an employer, you should have in place a written grievance policy for your employees. This will ensure that when an employee raises an issue with you, you deal with it fairly and consistently. You should deal with employees' grievances informally in the first instance by discussing issues as soon as they arise. However, you should turn to your formal grievance procedure where the informal process is impossible, or the employee is unsatisfied with the outcome.
As with your disciplinary policies, you should ensure that your grievance policy follows the ACAS Code of Practice: Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Not doing so can affect any compensation you may be required to pay your employees and the results of any employment tribunal claim.
Your grievance procedure should:
- inform employees of how the business deals with a grievance as well as the details of the ACAS Code;
- make employees aware of your intention as an employer to deal with grievances fairly;
- outline the various stages within the procedure, which should include a full investigation;
- explain that you will listen to those involved;
- outline that the employee can have someone accompany them to the grievance meeting; and
- break down how an employee can raise a grievance.
Key Takeaways
Employment law is a vast area with many rules for employers to follow. As an employer in England, you should have specific policies in place. This helps your employees understand what you expect of them and how they should respond to certain situations.
The key policies you should include in your staff handbook are:
- health and safety policy;
- a grievance policy; and
- disciplinary policy and procedures.
