At some point in the growth of your business you realise that you can no longer go it alone. There are a wide variety of laws, obligations, taxes and statutory records that can trip you up when you don’t know what you’re dealing with.

Lack of knowledge is not a defence, so ensure you find out what you have to do at an early stage. It will save you time, money and worry. This book has been written with the intention of helping you to avoid these types of sticky situations. The real success of hiring your first employee lies in following the correct procedures, adhering to the requirements of legislation and taking action at an early stage.

About the author

Kate Russell, BA, barrister, MA is the Managing Director of Russell HR Consulting and the author of this publication. She is the author of Build Your Dream Team – How SMEs Can Plug the Talent Gap, plus several other practical employment handbooks and e-books.

Russell HR Consulting Ltd delivers HR solutions and practical employment law training to a wide variety of industries and occupations across the UK. Kate has developed a reputation for being knowledgeable, robust and commercially aware and is especially well versed in the tackling and resolving of tough discipline and grievance matters.

It happens to almost every successful business owner. At some point in the growth of your business you realise that you can no longer go it alone. Most business owners are well aware of the problems and costs of employment, and will initially try to use outsourced support. If that works well for you, there’s no reason not to use it, though be careful about the over-use of so-called self-employed workers who clearly are not genuinely running their own business.

However there may well come a time when your business has expanded and it can’t be done on an outsourced basis. Then it’s time to think about employing someone. There are a wide variety of laws, obligations, taxes and statutory records that can trip you up when you don’t know what you’re dealing with.

Lack of knowledge is not a defence, so ensure you find out what you have to do at an early stage. It will save you time, money and worry. This book has been written with the intention of helping you to avoid these types of sticky situations. The real success of hiring your first employee lies in following the correct procedures, adhering to the requirements of legislation and taking action at an early stage.

• Preface
• About the author
• Miscellaneous notes

1. Overview of the Ebook
   1. Introduction
   2. Who counts as an employee?
   3. Recruitment and pre-employment checks
   4. Contracts of employment
   5. The first few months
   6. Employee rights
   7. What if the employee just doesn’t work out?
   8. Correcting performance or misconduct
   9. Health and safety responsibilities
   10. Additional legal responsibilities
2. Who counts as an employee?
   1. Introduction
   2. Employed or self-employed?
   3. Agency staff
   4. Interns and work experience students
3. Recruitment and pre-employment checks
   1. Introduction
   2. Basics of recruitment
   3. Offer letter and references
   4. Medicals
   5. Immigration checks
   6. DBS checks
   7. Welcoming the new employee to the business
4. Contracts of employment
   1. Introduction
   2. Where is the contract contained?
   3. Legal requirements
   4. Extra terms
   5. Updates and amendments
5. The first few months
   1. Introduction
   2. Purpose of probation
   3. Less favourable terms during probation
   4. Extending the probation
   5. Dismissal at the end of probation
   6. Dismissal after expiry of the probation period
6. Employee rights
   1. Introduction
   2. Pay
   3. Pension
   4. Sick pay
   5. Hours of work and breaks
   6. Holiday
   7. Discrimination
   8. Family friendly rights
   9. Time off
   10. Dispute resolution
   11. Redundancy
   12. Young people
7. What if the employee just doesn’t work out?
   1. Introduction
   2. Dismissal during or at the end of probation
   3. Dismissal after the end of the probation
   4. Dismissal – the minimum procedure
   5. Protected conversations
8. Correcting poor performance or misconduct
   1. Introduction
   2. Poor performance
   3. Misconduct
   4. The correction process
9. Health and safety responsibilities
   1. Introduction
   2. Policy statement
   3. Risk assessment
   4. Employers’ responsibilities
   5. Employees’ responsibilities
   6. Sanctions
10. Additional legal responsibilities
    1. Introduction
    2. Employers’ liability insurance
    3. NICs
    4. Statutory records
    5. Data protection
11. Where Next?