What Are Our Responsibilities As An Employer?
This is probably the question that employment lawyers hear most often and differs depending on the industry and the size of the business – not to mention the number of employees and how the business operates.
Having said that, there are some elements of employment law that all businesses should be aware of – with this blog identifying the most important, as disclosed by specialist employment lawyers.
Your Commitment To Health & Safety In The Workplace
Risk assessments are big business in the workplace, regardless of the industry that you operate in and the environment that your employees are expected to work in.
Risk assessments highlight any potential risks and hazards relating to an area where your employees work or which they use as part of their workday, and identify the steps taken to minimise those risks.
As an employer, you are legally responsible for keeping employees safe by identifying any potential risks within the work setting and doing what you can to make employees aware of these risks and minimise them.
Your Commitment To Employee’s Rights
From a welfare and employee rights perspective, employers are responsible for ensuring that everyone who works for them is safe and comfortable in the workplace.
This is achieved by, first and foremost, supporting a workplace with equal rights and no discrimination – hiring and promoting workers based on their competence and ability to do the job, regardless of personal circumstance, age, race, and other details.
This also means keeping the recruitment process fair for all and providing equal benefits and pay according to the position rather than the individual.
This is an area where, as an employer, you need to keep an eye on the employment law industry and ensure that you remain ahead of the curve in terms of equal rights in the workplace.
Your Commitment To Opportunity For Employees
Training and development is now regarded on the same level as benefits and pay by candidates who want to apply for and accept new positions where they can see a clear path to career progression and professional opportunity.
As an employer, offering both training and promotional opportunities is something that you would be encouraged to outline in job adverts and as part of the onboarding process – ensuring that every touchpoint is consistent, and that communication is clear across all employees. If you don’t, you leave yourself open to tribunals and to disputes where employees may accuse you of overpromising on opportunities when they first joined the company.
In order to ensure that all job adverts, contracts, and employee handbooks are consistent in wording and in what they promise versus what you can deliver as an employer, the best thing to do is to reach out to an employment law team that can represent you and finetune all documents produced as part of the business.
For more information on this and other services, get in touch with your local employment lawyers today.
