Recruitment, reorganisation and redundancy
Once in a while some big changes come along. These might be the introduction of new employees, the reorganisation of existing employees and making cuts in certain areas of the workforce. These changes are often time consuming, complicated and rife with legal obligations on the part of the employer.
I manage and administer recruitment drives for individual or group appointments, from researching pay, drafting and placing adverts and shortlisting, to interviewing and drafting offer documentation.
I advise on and administer workforce reorganisations, from drafting job descriptions and structure charts, to interviewing and managing the potential change to employment terms and conditions, including large scale collective consultations.
I also advise on the statutory redundancy procedure, including calculating redundancy payments, drafting correspondence and administering information and consultation meetings with employees.
Employment contracts
As with most things in life, it’s important to get the basics right. Employment contracts are crucial for setting out legal rights and establishing the working relationship between you and your employee.
I both review and draft employment contracts in line with legal requirements and individual business needs. I also advise on the interpretation and implementation of clauses within employment contracts and help administer the introduction of new or varied terms and conditions.
Workforce policies and procedures
An important step for establishing a positive working relationship is to have policies and procedures in place. Doing so will help both you and your employees know what is expected of each other in certain situations and ensure that things tick along as they should on a day to day basis.
I review, draft and administer the implementation of employee handbooks, policies and procedures that deal with:
• employee grievances
• disciplinaries and misconduct
• absence (sickness and other)
• performance (both managing performance and dealing with poor performers)
• family matters (including maternity, paternity and adoption)
• expectations and rules when at work
• specific business matters
Day to day employment issues
Most days, everything ticks by nicely. However sometimes questions, queries or issues relating to employment rights crop up that just need clarifying or smoothing out.
I advise on all aspects of employment – from when an employee joins a business, to when they leave. Including:
• induction
• probation
• leave (including maternity, paternity, adoption, special leave, unauthorised leave)
• sickness
• working hours
• performance
• employee expectations
• ending employment
Discipline, grievance and absence
Life is never dull when you employ people. Sometimes issues crop up that need to be dealt with swiftly and properly for both parties. Often there are legal obligations on employers to do things a certain way.
I advise and support businesses on all aspects of disciplinary, grievance and absence matters, including drafting correspondence, advising at meetings and explaining the options and risks to employers when it comes to making difficult decisions.
HR administration
Trouble with employees turning up late for work? Can’t remember how many days off someone has had? Don’t have the time to gather evidence of poor employee performance?
I establish procedures and documentation to help businesses administer a number of HR activities, including:
• recording and managing absence
• managing performance
• recruiting new employees
Training
Sometimes we all need a refresher on how to deal with the day to day employment issues that can escalate into larger problems.
I prepare and deliver people management training programmes to business owners and their managers. The training is intended to provide information on dealing with a range of HR issues to enable managers to deal with a basic level of people management issues effectively and legally.