In the UK, the employment information you have to give to a new employee is quite limited.
In our experience, however, it starts the relationship off from a more positive footing if employees have comprehensive information from the get-go so that both parties know early on what to expect of each other.
Here we set out our recommendations for the key HR documents you should have in place before you start your journey as an employer.
Offer and employment contract
Together these two HR documents should set out the core terms and conditions that will define and regulate the relationship between your company and its employees.
UK employment law specifies the minimum information that must be put in writing to a prospective employee before they start work – or at the latest on their very first day of work. This is the ‘written statement of employment particulars’, which in itself is not a contract.
You can download a free template statement from the internet, but this will usually only cover the minimum legal information and not provide the protection most employers look for. Most employers, therefore, use a more detailed employment contract that gives them more rights, e.g. to deduct overpayments from salary, pay in lieu of notice, put an employee on garden leave, restrict their ability to go straight to a key competitor and/or take other employees with them, and places more obligations on the employee. These and many other employer’s rights are not automatic but can be established through a well-drafted employment contract.
The offer letter will draw out the main terms you want the candidate to know about when considering the role salary, holidays and other valuable benefits. It should also be clear on any conditions they must still meet or the offer can be withdrawn, such as a deadline to respond, the required start date, a satisfactory right to work/criminal records/driving license check etc. The offer letter will be considered contractual when accepted, so it’s vital to get the details right.
Employee Handbook
Another key HR document is the Employee Handbook. This document sets out the rules, policies and procedures that let your employees know what they should do, what they can expect to receive and how the company will act in different scenarios.
As some entitlements, policies and procedures need to be provided by law (e.g. paid leave, sick pay, grievance and discipline procedures), and these are often referred to in the employment contract, it makes sense to keep the full details of these and other key policies together in a single document. By detailing the procedures that both the employees and employer will follow, a handbook provides useful guidance for the employer, helps ensure a consistent and legally compliant approach is taken and reduces the risk of confusion, errors and disputes.
Most of the contents of an employee handbook should normally not be contractual, and the contract should make this clear.
Job description
It’s not a legal requirement to provide a job description (only the job title), but it is good practice. It’s generally advisable not to make a job description contractual as it will need to change from time to time. Still, there should be a reasonable alignment between what you say an employee will do (and therefore what you are paying them for) and what you ask them to do in practice.
Drawing up the job description will make you stop and think about what you really need your people to do and be responsible for, not just today but also in the future. It will also help you:
- Scale the role (you can benchmark salary by looking at comparable advertised vacancies)
- Work out if there is too much (or not enough) for one person to do
- Design your outline organisation structure by looking at the connections and boundaries you need between activities
In a competitive hiring market, the job description will be a large part of the attraction for prospective candidates, but it also helps both sides assess whether an applicant really does have the skills and experience you are looking for and where training might be needed.
A job description could also be relevant in future conversations – e.g. around performance, pay, redundancy selection – so it’s worth spending the time to define your expectations clearly and to be able to update them if there are significant changes to a job.
Need help with your HR documents?
ipeopleHR can provide you with template HR documents or work with you to design the final, bespoke versions that will reflect your specific business needs. If you’re about to employ your first UK employee, please contact us to discuss how we can help.
