Monthly Archives: August 2014

Three Stages to Getting Recruitment Right – Part Three

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In three blog posts I’m covering some of the basics of getting recruitment right – especially if you’re taking on your first member of staff. First we looked at how to find the best person (click here if you missed that post or would like to read it again.) In Part Two we covered what to do when your new recruits start working for you, which you will find here.

In this blog, the final part of the series, I’ll talk about what to do at the end of their probation. This three stage process will help you find and keep hold of the best people for your business – and avoid some costly pitfalls!

Part Three – What do you do at the end of their probation?

The first thing to do is to make sure that you have actually agreed a probationary period with your new employee. Three months is the minimum and works well for simple jobs, but this can go very quickly. A six month probationary period is a good length of time for you to decide whether or not you want to keep your new employee within your business.

The next thing to do is to book a meeting with your member of staff, once a week during their probation period. Put something in the diary at the same time every week for a few months, especially if you don’t work closely with them. If you don’t see them every day, then this is a good way to check in with them. It’s your chance to find out how they’re getting on – are they reaching their targets, or are there parts of their role that they’re struggling with?

What happens if they reach the end of their probation and you’re not happy with their progress? You need to take action! You can extend their probation period, to give them time to work the performance issues you’ve identified. If you’d been having regular meetings, you’ll know early on if there’s something wrong and be able to do something about it. Don’t leave it until the end of their probation period to tackle an issue, or spring the surprise on them!

And if you are both happy? Then you’ve got a fully fledged new member of staff on your team. But don’t think that you can just sit back and relax! Being a boss/manager of people is an ongoing job that doesn’t finish at the end of probation. We’ve talked more about useful tools like appraisals, performance plans and setting targets in other blog posts – just use the search box on the front page of this blog to find what you’re looking for.

If you have a specific question about one of your employees, do get in touch for a chat and some advice.

Settlement Agreements used to be called Compromise Agreements. What’s Changed?

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In the UK, a compromise agreement – now known as a Settlement Agreement – is a specific type of contract, regulated by statute, between an employer and its employee (or ex-employee) under which the employee receives payment in exchange for agreeing that he or she will have no further claim against the employer as a result of any breach of a statutory obligation by the employer.

Changes were made (other than just the name) in July 2013. What does this mean to you, as an employer?

A Settlement Agreement is a legally binding contract which can be used to end an employment relationship on agreed terms. Their main feature is that they waive an individual’s right to make a claim to a court or employment tribunal on the matters that are specifically covered in the agreement. Settlement Agreements may be proposed prior to undertaking any other formal process. They usually include some form of payment to the employee by the employer and may also include a reference.

For a settlement agreement to be legal, the following conditions must be met:

  • The agreement must be in writing
  • The agreement must relate to a particular complaint or proceedings
  • The employee must have received advice from a relevant independent adviser on the terms and effect of the proposed agreement and its effect on the employee’s ability to pursue that complaint or proceedings before an employment tribunal
  • The independent adviser must have a current contract of insurance or professional indemnity insurance covering the risk of a claim by the employee in respect of loss arising from that advice
  • The agreement must identify the adviser
  • The agreement must state that the applicable statutory conditions regulating the settlement agreement have been satisfied.

A Settlement Agreement can be proposed by both employers and employees although they will normally be proposed by the employer. A proposal can be made at any stage of an employment relationship.

Acas has produced a comprehensive Code of Practice on Settlement Agreements, which you can download for free here. It is very important to take HR advice before starting a process of discussing a Settlement Agreement with an employee so do get in touch if you have any questions.

Three Stages to Getting Recruitment Right – Part Two

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In three blog posts I’m going to cover some of the basics of getting recruitment right – especially if you’re taking on your first member of staff. Last time we looked at how to find the best person (click here if you missed that post or would like to read it again.) In Part Two we’ll look at what to do when your new recruits start working for you and in the third blog, I’ll talk about what to do at the end of their probation. This three stage process will help you find and keep hold of the best people for your business – and avoid some costly pitfalls!

Part Two – How do you make sure they get off to the best start?

Recruitment can be a long, expensive and time consuming process. After all the effort of finding the right person to join your team, you want to help them settled in as quickly and smoothly as possible. Some new staff have been known not to show up after the first weekend, or even on their second day and you don’t want that!

Particularly if you’re taking on your first member of staff, take the time to plan their induction. Make sure they have somewhere to sit and a computer to work at – if that’s part of their job!

Induction training must include the following elements:

  • General training relating to your business, including values and philosophy as well as structure and history
  • Mandatory training relating to health and safety and other essential or legal areas
  • Job training relating to the role that they will be performing
  • Training evaluation, including confirmation of understanding and feedback about the quality and response to the training.

You will also need to take up the references that they provided you with, check the qualifications they say they have and confirm they have the right to work in the UK. (The law about foreign workers has changed recently – there are more details here.)

Acas has produced a very useful Induction Checklist which will give you more ideas on what to cover during induction. You can download it here.

In Part Three of this series we’ll talk about what you need to do once your new recruit (who really is the right person and has started off well) reaches the end of their probation period.