Taking on Your First Employee
Taking on your first employee may seem straightforward to you, or you may feel a bit daunted by it. Here are my top tips from an employment law perspective.
- The recruitment process – there are lots of reasons why you should have a robust recruitment process in place even for your first employee. From an employment law perspective, the biggest risk to you is “discrimination”. Even if you don’t have a discriminatory bone in your body, ignorance of the potential risks and pitfalls can cost you dearly.
- Offers and contracts – getting this process right is also essential. Workers are entitled to a contract from day one. Your contract must properly record what has been agreed (for example, probationary periods, bonuses, holiday); protect you going forward (what if they stay for 6 months and then leave and steal your clients); and comply with your legal obligations.
- Data protection – this is key for every employer. You need a privacy notice, take up references, deal with whether they can work in the UK, have a driver’s licence and other qualifications if necessary. You also need to explain to the employee what data you hold about them, why, how this can be used and when it will be destroyed.
- An Employee Handbook – contrary to expectations, this can be short and to the point. Between 25 and 30 pages should be enough for a small business (and not written in tiny print!). This sets out a bit more information about you and clarifies your expectations of your new recruit.
- Policies – my advice is that you need a minimum of 4 policies to get started. These are a disciplinary and grievance policy, a dignity at work policy and data protection guidelines. Yes, your new employee may have other issues or concerns, but you can respond to them as and when they arise – for example, a flexible working request process, or a maternity policy.
- Working from Home – your new recruit may spend some or all of their time working from home in which case you need a “working form home risk assessment pack” to protect your business.
- An “initial period of employment” process – more commonly known as a probationary process. Employees will be given rights to claim unfair dismissal from day one and so how you manage them in their first three, six and nine months is going to become very important. As part of this process, you will need a job description, targets and documented reviews to avoid falling foul of the new unfair dismissal legislation.
All of this is achievable and should not put you off employing your first employee. I offer a bespoke service to employers hiring their first employee. I can walk you through each of the above steps, provide you with the documents you need, and ensure that you have maximum protection for your business. The cost is less than you might think – usually everything can be put in place for under £2,000.
Employing your first employee is challenging and exciting and with my help you can get it right.
