Effective HR policies are the backbone of any successful business, regardless of size. They establish clear expectations, protect your organisation, and ensure compliance with employment laws. Here are nine essential HR policies every small employer should have in place:
Essential HR Policies
- Absence notification and sick pay: a clearly written absence policy will help your managers and employees to understand the procedures they must follow if employees are absent due to sickness or for any other reason; what payments and benefits apply and what steps you take to monitor and manage absence.
- Bullying and harassment: bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at work are in breach of employment and discrimination laws, leading to unlimited compensatory awards. It is worth noting that as well as risking a tribunal claim, individual managers who condone or who fail to take action to stop and prevent such behaviour can be subject to a claim against them personally. Bullying and harassment at work can reduce the effectiveness of your organisation by creating a hostile or threatening environment for the employee(s) subjected to this, may increase your sickness levels and staff turnover and reduce your employees’ ability to carry out their work effectively. A bullying and harassment policy can help to protect your organisation and provides your employees both with guidance and a means of resolving any problems that may occur.
- Disciplinary procedure: all employers, irrespective of their size, should have, and make available to their employees, a disciplinary procedure that is carefully followed whenever a disciplinary issue arises. Any dismissal process should comply with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Whilst failure to follow the Code does not, in itself, make an employer liable to proceedings, tribunals will take it into account and may adjust any award by up to 25% for unreasonable failure (by either employer or employee) to comply with any provision in it.
- Equal, Diversity and Inclusion (may also be known as Equal Opportunities): candidates, employees and ex-employees are entitled not to be discriminated against, or treated unfavourably, because of a ‘protected characteristic’ (age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. Your policy can set the standard for how your employees should behave (small employers often pride themselves on their more informal environment but the same rules regarding treating employees fairly and with respect still apply to them) and give new employees the confidence that you are a fair and equitable employer. Employees who have not worked in larger organisations and who have not had the benefit of large-company inductions with HR training sessions on such issues may not be aware of the protected characteristics, nor that the protection applies to discrimination by association (where their friends, family etc may have the protected characteristic e.g. a disabled child) and by perception (where someone is falsely considered to have the protected characteristic – e.g. they are perceived to be of a particular religion, but are not). As you are responsible for the behaviour of your employees, your policy can spell this out and provides you with some defence if your employees then discriminate unlawfully against each other.
- Grievance procedure: just as you have a disciplinary procedure to deal with conduct and performance issues, you should have a grievance procedure to cover instances when the employee has a problem at work. Grievance procedures provide guidance to your employees on how to raise any problems or issues they may have at work and clearly set out the formal process to ensure such issues are dealt with in a fair and consistent manner. You should comply with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures as described above.
- Health and Safety policy: if you have 5 or more employees, you must have a written health and safety policy. However, good practice recommends that ALL employers should have this. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA) requires that employers provide employees with a safe place of work and sets minimum standards for all business premises. The introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 places specific duties on managers, directors, board members and owners of companies.
- IT and computer use: the widespread use of information technology at work requires most organisations to define and communicate an IT and computer use policy, with clear protocols and guidance. Where you provide access to email and the Internet, users could easily breach the law in a number of ways, for example: downloading illegal files or images; viewing a website containing inappropriate images – this can cause offence to other workers and could be considered harassment or discrimination; breach of copyright; bullying or harassment; breach of data protection law. Note that you, as the employer may be held vicariously responsible for the misconduct of your employees. There have been many tribunal claims as a result of employees using their IT equipment improperly, e.g. downloading pornography, sending abusive emails, blogging (maintaining an online diary which criticises the employer or other individuals), selling items and hacking into the system to access information. Research also indicates that some employees prefer to spend much of their working day dealing with their personal affairs online and surfing the net, rather than getting on with their work. As with most things, if you don’t have a clear rule it’s harder to prove that your employee has misbehaved!
- Family Friendly Policy (i.e. adoption, carer’s leave, dependants leave, maternity, paternity, shared parental leave): employees have many rights in this area, and these change constantly! Having all family friendly entitlements in the one policy is recommended because it can make it easier for an employee to find information they need for their circumstances. Having separate policies can make it harder to find exactly the information you are looking for. These types of leave apply to all employers, regardless of size.
- Whistleblowing: the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 protects employees and workers who raise issues of wrongdoing in the workplace, provided that they follow the proper procedures. Case law has extended this to confirm that the cover extends to those who raise concerns after their employment has ended. A clearly written whistleblowing policy will help your workers to understand what they need to do if they have concerns about suspected wrongdoing or malpractice and also, by allowing them a choice of routes to take and protection against detriment, will encourage such issues to be raised at an appropriate level internally. Research into whistleblowing policies suggests that, where introduced and communicated, they do indicate success. The awards made to those who successfully complain of suffering a detriment owing to making a disclosure can be very high: we would therefore suggest that a whistleblowing policy is essential to protect your business and to encourage the early discovery of any areas of malpractice or wrongdoing.
Of course, once in place, these policies need to be reviewed and updated to reflect changes in legislation, case law and also your organisation itself. However, if your HR policies are non-contractual, it is a relatively easy exercise to issue notice of the proposed changes and invite any comments or suggestions prior to their implementation. An annual update can also serve to keep the policies fresh in your employees’ minds.
Need Help with Your Policies?
At HR Solutions, we specialise in crafting tailored HR policies to protect your business and support your employees. Whether you’re starting from scratch or updating existing policies, our team is here to help.
📞 Contact our expert team today at 0844 324 5840 or complete a contact form on our website.
