As your business grows, it’s important to motivate your team as well as deal with the occaisional difficult employment situation
Knowing how to handle an under-performing member of staff, gross misconduct or a redundancy situation can be extremely difficult. It is often tempting to either ignore it, or hope that an informal discussion will do the trick.
The last thing any business owner wants is to end up with an employment dispute followed by a claim for discrimination or unfair dismissal. And failure to follow the correct steps in these sorts of situations can all too easily lead to an employment tribunal. Equally, engaging a high street solicitor to advise on these employment law issues is often unfeasibly expensive: the legal bill for taking a contentious Human Resources situation through to an employment tribunal will typically cost several thousand pounds.
Having a good employment contract in place is an important first step to avoid disputes. This should be accompanied by a company handbook which lays out some of the other key policies and procedures including health and safety guidelines.
Our dedicated HR hotline offers unlimited employment law advice over the phone and is available to all of our clients for a fixed annual fee. It is staffed by employment law solicitors who can guide you through the procedures for dealing with capability, misconduct or redundancy as well as providing you with practical advice designed to resolve the situation.
We also have a very handy redundancy calculator, which helps give you an idea of how much an employee is entitled to, and our clients have access to a comprehensive range of precedents, templates, model letters and procedural guidance through our Business Consultants.
But good legal support can be as much about motivating employees as dealing with difficult situations.
Setting up a company share option scheme can be brilliant way of motivating employees and giving them a sense of ownership that aligns incentives well with the company founder.
Equally, setting up a good pension scheme shows that the employer cares about the long term welfare of the team.
If any of this sounds like it could be of interest, get in touch to discuss how we can help.
Rachel has a wealth of experience in corporate and commercial law, having worked in practice and in-house since she qualified in 1993.
Rachel runs our legal team at Accounts and Legal, and specialises in drafting bespoke commercial contracts, shareholder's agreements, loan agreements, commercial leases and share option schemes.
Her colleagues also have specialisms in employment law and intellectual property, and cover the full spectrum of disciplines required by entrepreneurs and small business owners.
So if you have a specific requirement, or think you might benefit from a company health check, please don't hesitate to drop her a line.