The HR File – What’s in yours?

There are several must-have documents and records under employment law in Ireland.  The purpose of this article is to advise HAI members of these while also suggesting some useful HR templates to have available to management to assist in the processing of HR functions, writes Tom Smyth of HR Consultancy, Tom Smyth & Associates.

Critical documents

Under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, an employer must, within eight weeks of an employee’s commencement, give the employee certain minimum terms and conditions in writing. This requirement is generally met via a contract of employment. It is important to ensure that whatever contract template you use meets the list of minimum terms required by the act! This list is available to review at www.workplacerelations.ie or please contact our offices with any queries.

A safety statement is also legally required for each commercial premises. It must be customised to suit each location and its contents include naming those responsible for safety, identifying risks and hazards and providing mitigating solutions to reduce the possibility of accidents. This must be prepared by a ‘competent’ person who is experienced enough to accurately assess the dangers in the workplace.

A certificate confirming manual handling training is also required for each employee. It is expected that training is done by each employer so there is no reliance on training given in a previous role. Working time records must be maintained accurately by employers so that if ever questioned or inspected, they can produce an accurate record of working time including start, finish and breaks. This has to be in an acceptable format of either a proper Time Management System (TMS) system or an OWT 1 Government form. Generally manual records, such as an augmented roster, will be acceptable, provided the employee signs off on their hours as accurate.

Pay slips must be provided to employees for each pay period. This should accurately set out gross pay and how it is calculated, all deductions and net pay. An active work permit must be on file for any employee from a non-EEA country. For further details on this visit www.djei.ie.

Useful HR templates

While not legally required, the following templates are recommended for use to ensure clarity of communication and accurate record keeping in areas of HR that can cause difficulties between employers and employees.

• Interview summary – Even before you actually recruit someone you are open to possible legal action if a person felt they were discriminated against during the recruitment process. Very often interviews are informal, one-on-one conversations with no witness or record of what is discussed. We recommend developing a single page template that lists four or five key attributes you seek in an employee so you can score each candidate and make relevant notes of their interview. Keep these notes on file in case you are ever asked for feedback by a candidate or in case another vacancy emerges and you need to seek a reasonable quality candidate.
• Return to work – Absenteeism issues are one of the most common reason for calls to our office. An employer does have to be careful what information they seek from employees but we recommend developing a one-page questionnaire to fill in with their manager regarding the absence, their fitness to return to work and any other relevant information.
• Employee appraisal – We recommend that once a year, at least, you have a catch-up with each colleague. Having a set agenda for such a meeting via an appraisal template is always recommended. Constructively assess a colleague’s development against fixed skills or characteristics. Ask the employee to give you feedback on how they feel they are developing and whether your business, as their employer is meeting their expectations.
• Holiday request form – A simple one-page booking form that allows an employee select their dates, but also is very clear on what constitutes ‘approval’ of the dates, puts the onus on the employee to control the management of leave and avoids any confusion over verbally-requested days.
• Probation Progression Sheet – A typical probation period lasts circa six months. We recommend using a probation ‘tracker’ document that starts when an employee commences in the business. It sets outs the key learnings the employee must display during the probation period.

Tom Smyth is Managing Director of Tom Smyth & Associates, a HR consultancy, established in 1991, that, in association with HAI, gives Irish employers practical advice on HR, industrial relations and employment law issues. As part of our relationship with HAI and its members, we are happy to discuss and prepare certain complimentary templates to assist your HR function. Please call us on 021-4634154.

This Business Support article featured in the January/February 2017 edition of The Hardware Journal.