As anyone who's been there will tell you, there are any number of different priorities that demand your time when you're starting or trying to grow a business.
Developing and fine tuning the products or services on which your firm’s success will be based, bringing in the equipment and people that you need to realise your ideas and putting the financial and operational structures in place that will underpin everything will all need your attention if things are going to go to plan. With only so many hours in the day, and so much budget available to cover all costs, it’s natural that some areas are going to take clear precedence over others.
In my experience, one of the areas that often gets less attention that it ought to within growing businesses is human resources, especially for businesses that don’t have or can’t yet afford to have a dedicated HR function in place.
While other issues may feel more immediately pressing, there are significant risks involved with not giving your employee contracts and workplace policies proper attention and failing to do so may be storing up potentially costly problems that could come back to bite you in the longer term. Indeed, it is, for example, a legal right for employees and workers to be provided with a statement of their main terms on their first day in a new job.
With this in mind, Hay & Kilner’s specialist employment law team has developed two new fixed-fee products which enable business owners to gain peace of mind and cover their legal obligations without facing unlimited costs for doing so.
Our new HR Solutions package offers template contracts and handbooks, access to legally compliant workplace documents and the option of consultation with one of the team’s employment law specialists, and is designed to provide the confidence that owner/managers need that all the legal bases are covered, so they can get on with the job of running their businesses, all for a one off fixed-fee.
All the documentation is drafted by lawyers and tailorable for clients’ individual needs and require just basic employee information to be ready for use.
It is also equally useful whether your business is just starting out or if you need to refresh the documents and procedures that you already have in place. Running alongside this is HR Secure, which aims to ensure your employment contracts have clear, up to date and legally compliant business protection clauses within them to help safeguard your business and protect your workforce.
Many issues can arise with departing employees and/or their new employers due to a lack of clarity and precision in employment contracts, or indeed a lack of the necessary protection altogether, and litigation with ex-employees or competitors can be extremely costly and time-consuming.
HR Secure offers a fixed-fee audit of the key business protection’ elements of your employment documentation, including confidentiality provisions and restrictive covenants.
Our in-depth review of your existing clauses will identify any areas that need attention, with fresh, up to date wording being provided where required that is tailored to your business needs.
When it comes to effective management of your workplace and employee contract responsibilities, preventing problems arising in the first place is always better, quicker and less costly than suddenly having to find a cure for them.
By providing essential documentation and legal expertise on a cost-effective basis, HR Solutions and HR Secure offer business owners the protection and peace of mind they need to be able to concentrate on looking after their customers and securing commercial success.
