Recruiting Staff? Stay Compliant With Our Handy Guide

With universities and colleges gearing up for the start of the new academic year, the arrival of students will present many businesses with recruitment opportunities for part-time or casual vacancies. Stay compliant with our quick guide to recruitment:

The Process – Review or produce the job description for the role you wish to fill. Consider how you wish an applicant to apply and how you will short-list for the role. Be mindful of data protection obligations and only ask for information you need. Don’t ask for information that could lead to an inference of discrimination, such as marital status, dates of birth or dates of education. Equal opportunities monitoring forms should not be given to the person involved in the recruitment decisions. Review your selection process and be prepared to make reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants. Always be objective. Interview questions need to be appropriate as do any written comments one day a tribunal might see them! Exercise caution when using social media to check out suitability of candidates due to possible inferences of discrimination. Any offer of employment should be subject to satisfactory references. Generally questions about health should not be asked but job offers conditional on a satisfactory medical can be made. The documents Employees should be given a written statement of terms within the first two months of employment. Ideally, a contract of employment, including a probationary period, should be produced. For workers, an agreement setting out their status, duties etc is highly beneficial. Review policies to ensure they are in line with current legislation and protect your business.Induction and beyond Cover any necessary training, and make new recruits aware of your health and safety rules, and equal opportunities/diversity policies and procedures as a minimum. Keep records of training, particularly that aimed at preventing discrimination. Review performance and make use of the probationary period where performance is below standard. As always, if an applicant or new recruit raises concerns, or if you have any problems, take advice.