Make Your Operations Manual Policies Fit For Purpose

Clearly communicating your company policies and procedures within an employee handbook is now an essential HR Policy to have in place, but how much should be included within the pages of your employee manual?

Here are some quick guidelines to help ensure your staff training induction material covers not only what you are required to state at the beginning of employment, but also leave none of your staff policies to chance. With a good set of procedures and policies set out in black and white, the unwritten rule is, there are no unwritten rules.

Taking the time to create an Operations Manual for your business means you can set your Policy & Procedures exactly the way you want your company to run. However there are some must have employment policies that every employer is responsible for providing their team.

First a word on employment contracts

All employees have an employment contract with their employer. As soon as someone accepts a job offer they have a contract with their employer. An employment contract doesn’t have to be written down. A contract is an agreement of the employee’s:

•     employment conditions
•     rights
•     responsibilities
•     duties

These are the ‘terms’ of the contract.

Employees and employers must stick to a contract until it ends (e.g. by an employer or employee giving notice or an employee being dismissed) or until the terms are changed (usually by agreement between the employee and employer).

This is different from a person agreeing to do some work for someone (like paint their house), this isn’t an employment contract but a ‘contract to provide services’.

The employee handbook can form the ‘terms’ of an employment contract

The legal parts of a contract are known as ‘terms’. An employer should make clear which parts of a contract are legally binding.

Contract terms could be:

•    in a written contract, or similar document like a written statement of employment
•    verbally agreed
•    in an employee handbook or on a company notice board
•    in an offer letter from the employer
•    required by law (e.g. an employer must pay employees at least the National Minimum Wage)
•    in collective agreements - negotiated agreements between employers and trade unions or staff associations
•    implied terms - automatically part of a contract even if they’re not written down

Examples of an implied term include:

•     employees not stealing from their employer
•     the employer providing a safe and secure working environment
•     a legal requirement like the right to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid holidays
•     something necessary to do the job like a driver having a valid licence
•     something that’s been done regularly in a company over a long time like paying a Christmas bonus

If there’s nothing clearly agreed about a particular issue, it may be covered by an implied term, but for the avoidance of doubt, you can decide to include it in operations manual as a written company policy.

Written statement of employment particulars

An employer must give employees a ‘written statement of employment particulars’ if their employment contract lasts at least a month or more. This isn’t an employment contract but will include the main conditions of employment.

The employer must provide the written statement within 2 months of the start of employment.

What a written statement must include

A written statement can be made up of more than one document (if the employer gives employees different sections of their statement at different times). If this does happen, one of the documents (called the ‘principal statement’) must include as a minimum:

•     the business’s name
•     the employee’s name, job title or a description of work and start date
•     if a previous job counts towards a period of continuous employment, the date the period started
•     how much and how often an employee will get paid
•     hours of work (and if employees will have to work Sundays, nights or overtime
•     holiday entitlement (and if that includes public holidays)
•     where an employee will be working and whether they might have to relocate
•     if an employee works in different places, where these will be and what the employer’s address is

As well as the principal statement, a written statement must also contain information about: 

•     how long a temporary job is expected to last
•     the end date of a fixed-term contract
•     notice periods
•     collective agreements
•     pensions
•     who to go to with a grievance
•     how to complain about how a grievance is handled
•     how to complain about a disciplinary or dismissal decision 

What a written statement doesn’t need to include

The written statement doesn’t need to cover the following (but it must say where the information can be found):

•    sick pay and procedures
•    disciplinary and dismissal procedures (except in Northern Ireland where it must be included)
•     grievance procedures

Policies and Procedures to consider adding to team member handbooks

This list is should provide some inspiration of what else you can or should document a written Policy Procedure on;

1. Salon Organisational Structure
2. Company Vision
3. Recruitment Policy
4. Training environment
5. Career opportunity
6. Expected standards
7. Mission Statement
8. Customer Guarantee
9. Service Philosophy
10. Initial Trial
11. Induction
12. Probationary Period
13. Daily Meetings
14. Weekly One to One’s
15. Weekly Management Meetings
16. Monthly Staff Training Sessions
17. Employee Reviews
18. Opening Hours
19. Breaks
20. Job Flexibility
21. Maternity, Paternity or Adoption
22. Parental Leave
23. Compassionate Leave
24. Giving Notice to End Employment
25. Administration of Payments and Deductions               
26. Overpayments
27. Income Tax and National Insurance
28. Conduct & Non Negotiable
29. Harassment
30. Grievances
31. Serious Misconduct
32. Gross Misconduct
33. Disciplinary Appeal Procedure
34. Cash Handling Procedures               
35. Communications Policies
36. Confidentiality
37. Copyright
38. Data Protection
39. Use of Computer Equipment
40. E-Mail and Internet Policy               
41. Social Networking Sites and Blogs  
42. Virus Protection Procedures
43. Inventions and Discoveries
44. Bribery                  
45. Safeguards
46. First aid
47. Safety Training
48. Smoking
49. Fire
50. Day to Day Running
51. Toilets
52. Communication board
53. Team suggestion program
54. Messages
55. Memos
56. Parking
57. Appearance
58. Uniform
59. Protective clothing
60. Personal hygiene
61. Equipment
62. Wastage
63. Team perks and bonuses
64. Family discounts
65. Education & excellence bonuses
66. Services bonuses
67. Product bonuses

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.

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