Staff handbooks

Dignity at work policyYou're not legally obliged to put in place a dignity at work policy. However, harassment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation are all unlawful and implementi... Read more

Holidays policyWorkers have a statutory right to a minimum of 5.6 weeks' (28 days') paid leave per annum. Whilst you'd think granting holidays and holiday pay is a relatively straightforward exercise, disputes over holiday pay are one of the most common... Read more

Whistleblowing policyA whistleblowing policy statement will provide your employees with a route for them to raise qualifying disclosures under the Employment Rights Act 1996. Without it, you might find that the employee runs straight to the relevan... Read more

Conduct whilst on company business policyYou're limited in the restrictions you can place on an employee's behaviour in their own private time but you can try to control what they get up to at work-related social events by having a policy statement on ... Read more

Lay-off and short time working clauseConsider inserting a lay-off and short time working clause into employment contracts enabling you to temporarily lay off an employee with no work and no pay, or to temporarily reduce their hours/days of work during... Read more

Staff handbook guidelinesOur guidelines for managers on staff handbooks will help you when assembling a staff handbook from our various policies and procedures. They will assist you in deciding which policies and procedures should be contractual and ... Read more

Homeworking policyWith an increasing trend towards homeworking arrangements, if you grant this benefit to any of your staff, whether on a part-time or full-time basis, you need to ensure you set out in the staff handbook how the scheme will operate ... Read more

Paternity leave policyPaternity leave essentially enables eligible employees (usually fathers) to take up to two weeks off work following the birth or adoption of their child. Our policy statement sets out the employee's statutory rights to paternity ... Read more