Who said that being an employer was a piece of cake?

A torrent of new employment law has either come into force or is due to come into force in the coming months.

Keeping staff manuals up to date with policies is a significant and real challenge for professional firms and their clients alike.

Here is a summary of the changes you need to look out for.

Retirement 
The Default Retirement Age (DRA) will be phased out and abolished completely from 1 October 2011. This means that retirement will be removed as one of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal.

Firms should review their contracts of employment and policies to remove any references to retirement taking place at 65 unless it can be objectively justified.

Maternity & paternity leave
New regulations apply to parents of babies born on or after 3 April 2011. These regulations give eligible employees (usually fathers) the right to take up to 26 weeks' paternity leave, if the mother (or primary adopter) returns to work early.

Agency workers
From 1 October 2011, agency workers will need to be offered the same basic terms and conditions as direct recruits. 

Tribunals
The Government is consulting on substantial changes to the Tribunal system, including increased mediation and conciliation, increased power to strike-out claims, fees for issuing claims, increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from one to two years, and fines (payable to the Treasury) for employers who lose at the Tribunal - the fine will be 50 percent of the award. 


Martin Pollins, Managing Director of Bizezia says: "The Government says it will consider the requirements on employers when they take on new staff and intends to publish a model contract for employers shortly - but don't hold your breath as this could be months away".

Bizezia's Work Manual allows you to create your own office policies and procedures manual on a fully-editable online system. Additionally, you can use Work Manual to create office policies and procedures manuals as an additional fee-generating service to your clients.

Work Manual is the most extensive business manual available. Regularly updated it:

  • Protects the firm and employees with clear policies and procedures
  • Helps with Practice Assurance or other quality assurance standards in professional firms
  • Is available online 24/7, from anywhere in the world

Work Manual now comes with templates for Contracts of Employment, Written Employment Particulars and a comprehensive editable Job Description Library, as well as optional additional work policies.

Use Work Manual for your firm to:

  • Build employee confidence
  • Eliminate workplace misunderstandings
  • Simplify office procedures

Use Work Manual for your clients to:

  • Provide a great new service to give your clients
  • Earn additional fee income
  • Build client loyalty

STOP PRESS: Bizezia's Work Manual also has a new work policy covering anti-corruption and bribery. 

Notes

  • There is help out there for firms who don't have a huge in-house budget or time to create website content themselves. They can use a website content provider like Bizezia.
  • Bizezia provides high quality, unique website marketing apps and practice management tools. Bizezia's products are designed to make business easier, encourage people to to visit your website and to keep them coming back.
  • The Bizezia Work Manualis a service that accountants can use to create office policies and procedures manuals for their own firm as well as an additional fee-generating service to clients.
  • Bizezia's EziaNews is an ideal example of how to keep your website current and informative. It's a daily round-up of business news that can be placed on to your website with no effort on your part and gives your clients, prospects and staff instant access to the latest business news.
  • Bizezia can trace its roots back to 1986, at a time when accountants were beginning to develop innovative marketing strategies for the first time. Then, with the launch of the Internet, Martin Pollins, founder of Bizezia, saw a new business opportunity to provide marketing and administrative products specifically for professionals serving SMEs, which would be available on their own websites with the aim of attracting potential clients and improving the level of service to existing clients.
  • Martin Pollins, chairman and founder of Bizezia, is a Chartered Accountant with wide experience in corporate finance and business management. He ran his own accountancy firm in Sussex and was the first accountancy firm in the UK to advertise on television. Martin went on to create and launch the CharterGroup Partnership (the UK's first accountancy network) and then LawGroup UK, one of the largest networks of lawyers in the country. He also served on the ICAEW Council for several years.
  • Operations director, Iman Rouane, is an honours journalism graduate, who has worked on a number of magazines, including Marie Claire and BBC Eve and was also a freelance newsreader for several radio stations across the south east. She joined Bizezia in 2005.