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When a small business starts employing people, HR policies can easily become an afterthought. Someone downloads a template online, adds the company name and puts it in a folder. That might tick a box, but it doesn’t necessarily help anyone.
Good HR policies should make things clearer for both employees and managers. They should explain how your business works, what you expect from people and what happens when something goes wrong. The right policies will depend on the size and nature of your business, but there are some sensible basics every employer should consider.
Start with the essentials
For most small businesses, this includes policies or procedures covering:
– Sickness and absence
– Holidays and annual leave
– Disciplinary procedures
– Grievances and employee complaints
– Equality, bullying and harassment
– Flexible or hybrid working
– Health and safety
– Family leave
– Data protection and IT use
You don’t necessarily need a separate 20-page document for every subject. The important thing is that employees know what is expected of them and managers know what to do when an issue arises.
Don’t forget the employment contract
Policies are only part of the picture. Your employment contracts should clearly set out the key terms of employment, including pay, working hours, holiday entitlement, notice periods and other relevant conditions. Employees and workers must receive the required written statement of employment particulars, so this isn’t something to leave until later. It’s also worth reviewing contracts when your business changes. If you move from office-based working to hybrid working, introduce new benefits or significantly change someone’s responsibilities, your existing documentation may need updating.
Your managers need to understand the policies
A policy sitting in an employee handbook isn’t much use if nobody knows what it says. Managers don’t need to become HR experts, but they should understand the basics. For example, if an employee is repeatedly absent, a manager should know how to record the absence, when to have a conversation and when to involve HR.
Likewise, if someone makes a complaint about a colleague, the manager should know that it needs to be taken seriously rather than trying to resolve it informally without understanding the situation.
Avoid copying policies you don’t need
One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is creating policies simply because another company has them. A five-person consultancy doesn’t necessarily need the same HR manual as a 500-person organisation. Your policies should reflect your business, your people and the risks you actually face. They should also be written in language your employees can understand. If a policy is full of legal terminology that nobody reads, it isn’t doing its job.
Review them regularly
Employment law changes, and your business changes too.
For example, recent changes to Statutory Sick Pay and wider employment law reforms mean that some older HR policies may no longer reflect current requirements. A good approach is to review your core HR policies at least once a year and whenever there is a significant change to employment law or your working practices.
The aim isn’t more paperwork
For a small business, good HR isn’t about creating a mountain of documents.
It’s about having the right framework in place so that employees understand what is expected, managers know how to respond and the business can deal with problems consistently. If your HR folder is either completely empty or full of policies nobody understands, it’s probably time for a review.
Not sure whether your HR policies are up to scratch?
Get in touch with Glass HR if you’d like some practical advice on what your business really needs.
