Wouldn’t it be nice if your employees came to work as scheduled and did their jobs as agreed when they were hired, day after day without incident? No doubt that’s a terrific image, but such a scenario today is more often the exception rather than the norm.

As an employer you know that all too often many of the employees you hire don’t always have the organisation’s best interests at heart. Usually the employees’ own interests take precedent. They need more money, they need more time off to deal with aging parents, they need a more flexible working arrangement, and the list goes on.

Even your star employees will from time to time raise potentially explosive issues associated with what they perceive as unfair treatment – pregnancy and family leave; age, sex and race discrimination; redundancy. Again, the list is lengthy.

Employee needs consume an inordinate amount of any employer’s time. But it’s time employers must give or they risk being put before the omnipresent employment Tribunal.

And that’s just part of it. There’s also the significant amount of time employers spend disciplining their employees. Even simple matters of discipline aren’t so simple any more. That’s because employees and employers both know that upon completion of a single form, employers may find themselves needing to justify their decisions before that same employment Tribunal.

So what’s an employer to do?

Short of closing up shop and opting to become an employee yourself, there are ways you can empower yourself so you can effectively deal with disciplinary and Tribunal issues. And it all starts with putting together an Employee Manual that clearly outlines your company’s policies. Once in writing, make sure every employee reads it, especially those who have been with you since the day your company opened. That’s the only way to combat the, “I was not aware of that policy” excuse.

HR software is more than a tool – it’s your protection

After that, you need to install HR software and you need to make sure it’s used every day by those whose responsibility it is to deal with employee relations. HR software goes well beyond maintaining employee details such as name, address, driving licensing, job title, pay rate and date of hire.

A good HR software package includes solid employment contracts that track the details of employment. When used, these contracts help protect your company’s vital assets. When they’re not used, you put your company at significant risk.

And when an employee becomes redundant you need to know you’ve handled this common (and commonly mishandled) situation correctly. Good HR software can help there, too.

Good HR software includes disciplinary letters that leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that you took the right steps when disciplining those employees who needed it. A written account may be the only way to prove you repeatedly counselled a troublesome employee before the decision to dismiss that employee was made.

HR software that tracks attendance helps you see patterns as they emerge and that’s what helps you identify repeat offenders. And when the data is output in report format, it’ll definitely help prove your case should you ever need to appear before the employment Tribunal.

Employment Law compliance

Good HR software can do all this and so much more. It’s your best defence, really. You know how confusing the Employment Law is. And while you may not be able to afford full-time counsel to advise you on the Employment Law’s many complexities, you can afford a comprehensive, easy-to-use HR software package.

According to Employment Tribunal statistics from the period 2004/2005, Unfair Dismissal was the #1 reason employees registered claims. Other reasons included discrimination, deduction of pay, equal pay, redundancy pay, breach of contract and more. As an employer, don’t think you won’t ever be named a Respondent. If it’s not happened yet, consider yourself lucky.

And then prepare yourself for that day by investing in quality HR software.

Learn more at Hr Software Reviews and Madebymurphy.com

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