At the moment there are 3 policies you must have in place to meet the minimum requirements of UK law.

Health and Safety

A Health and Safety policy is a must.  Usually, it is only required if you are employing over 5 people but if you are employing people in agriculture this will be required by your insurance and by Farm Assurance.  It should link in with your safety management plan, i.e. your Risk Assessments, but be specific what your staff should do to ensure their safety and that of others on the farm.

If you do not have a Health and Safety policy, up to date Risk Assessments and proof that your employee knows about these; the fact is that you will be liable is anything goes wrong. Scary right?

Disciplinary and Dismissal

These days you cannot just ‘get-rid’ of people but need to follow the correct procedure. However, with a policy in place, you can be in control of this. In cases of discipline and dismissal, there must be processes in place which are fair and non-discriminatory; which will deal with the issue and provide a clear outcome.

Your disciplinary policy must state the process which will be triggered by misconduct, and what the possible outcomes will be. Your dismissal policy needs to cover redundancy, conduct, capability and ‘other substantial reasons’.

Grievance Policy

A grievance policy focuses on the employee having a complaint.  There must be a document which outlines what process your employee should follow.  How do they raise the complaint?  How will it be responded to?  How will you, as the employer, carry out the investigation process required to get to an outcome?

I know what you are thinking... Isn’t it all a bit… much?

It might sound a little far fetch for a small business, but you truly do not know how much you need these policies until something goes wrong.  In the event of the cow pat hitting the fan, it is better to be covered as a business owner so you can hold your hands up and say ‘I have followed the book.’

It sounds much more complicated and more expensive than it is.

As your freelance HR advisor, I would create a staff handbook to suit you, or perhaps refresh your old one.  This handbook would be given to all staff and could be made as applicable for the work experience student as it is for the member of staff who you have had for 20 years.

You could include other policies and procedures which will benefit your business.  You may have had issues with staff taking too much leave or taking excessive sick leave.  This would be your chance to tackle that.  What about machinery mis-use or dogs at work?  You need someone qualified and experienced in writing these policies to ensure they cover you properly

With the correct policies in place, you're covered. And who knows what doors it could open up for you?