Dealing with the onboarding of new staff can be particularly challenging for business owners, especially as laws and regulations change frequently.

As your business grows and you take on more employees, it is important to tackle the elephant in the room: human resources.

To improve the onboarding process in your business, there are some practical steps you can take when bringing in new starters.

Provide the employment contract on day one

Make sure you provide new employees with their employment contract on the first day or even before, to set the tone and provide clarity on the terms and conditions of their employment.

It is now a legal requirement for employers to provide the required particulars on or before the start date, regardless of how long the employment is intended to continue for.

Remember the company pension scheme

Employers must auto-enrol all eligible employees into a workplace pension and make mandatory employer contributions into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.

Set this up from day one as part of your onboarding process to ensure that this does not get forgotten later down the line.

Design an induction process

Consider the processes and information that new employees need to know about your business to perform their role effectively.

This could include introducing them to key people, training them on relevant software, and familiarising them with the routine of the office.

With these points in mind, put together an induction plan for the first few weeks and let new starters attend meetings and meet the team.

This will help them to settle in more easily and understand the business better.

Health and safety

UK health and safety laws generally apply to all businesses, regardless of their size.

As an employer, you have a duty of care to your employees to safeguard, as far as possible, their health, safety and welfare.

You must take necessary steps to protect you, your employees and members of the public from risks of workplace dangers and to provide a safe working environment.

Mental health and employee wellbeing have become increasingly important, so your health and safety policies should focus on more than just physical health.

Employers are legally obliged to make the workplace safe, so it’s essential to consider ways to protect employees’ mental health, which is one of the leading causes of staff absence.

You must also provide clear instructions, information and adequate training for your employees including contractors and self-employed people.

In addition to training, you must ensure your new starters have all the information they need about:

• The hazards and risks they may face, if any.
• The measures in place to deal with those hazards and risks.
• How to follow any emergency procedures.

If you have five or more employees your business must have a written statement of its general Health and Safety Policy.

We can assist you in drafting a suitable policy for your business taking into account your health and safety requirements.

Employment law for owner-managed businesses with Mackrell LLP

Streamlining the onboarding process for new staff is essential to reducing inefficiencies and boosting productivity.

Mackrell LLP’s specialist Employment Law team can help you implement clear, legally compliant onboarding processes and support you to meet all your legal obligations regarding training, health and safety, and pension auto-enrolment.

For tailored advice on employment law, contact Joanna Alexiou, Senior Associate and Head of Employment & HR, on 0207 420 4195 or via email at joanna.alexiou@mackrell.com and Neil Emery, Senior Associate, on 0203 542 2557 or via email at neil.emery@mackrell.com.