How to write your own employee contract -Part 2

Today we will be discussing part two of what you need to include in your employee contract. This is the second video in our series of four videos.

1. Working Hours.

When and how does your business operate and within what hours?

It is more than likely that every employee will have a different contract, and in their contract, you will stipulate the hours that they are expected to work. However, you do need to let your employee know (and put in their contract) that it does depend on the demands of your business.

You need to have a set start time and a cutoff point in the evening. For example, if your cleaner goes to a job before 8 am and starts using carpet machines and the vacuum cleaner and makes lots of noise the customer might get complaints from the neighbours. Having said that, you do need to remember that opening hours in relations to cleaning and customer service are two very different things.

I recommend a start time of 8 am and a finish time of no later than 10 pm.

2. Notification of Illness and Holiday

What is the process for your staff to report absence due to illness or holidays?

Illness and holidays are two very different things. Firstly, with illness you do not want your staff simply texting and saying that they aren’t going to be in, that’s an easy way out for your employees. You want to ensure that in their contract there is a telephone number for them to call to report sickness and actually talk to somebody and explain that they are ill. By simply enforcing this rule it can cut the amount of sickness straight away. You also need to ensure that they understand when reporting sickness, they need to give a minimum of 2hrs notice.

Your employees must give you a reason as to why they are ill and how long they expect to be off for. You need to know what they intend to do about it, will they be going to the doctors etc. They need to know (and this needs to be stated in their contract) that if they are off for more then one day they still need to call in every day that they continue to be off. You will also need to complete a return to work form when they do return to ensure they are fit to work and assess if there are any problems.

Then we come to your employees wanting to go on holiday! So firstly, you will need a holiday form that your employees can fill in. They need to understand the process and that they can’t just ask for holiday and assume it will be ok. So, by having a holiday form this allows them to submit the dates they would like to go on holiday and you can then review and either approve or decline. If you have 10 cleaners and they all want to go on holiday at the same time you would be stuck without any cleaners, so need to review each holiday application as it comes in.

The process of booking holiday needs to be explained in their contract and they need to understand that until you have officially approved their holiday they should not book anything to avoid disappointment and being out of pocket.

3. Notice Period.

So, last week we discussed your employee’s probation period and how this worked when they initially joined your company. Once they have passed their probationary period you need to ensure they understand what has changed and particularly, now that they are an official employee how much notice they must give if they want to terminate their employment. You’ll state for example that if they have worked for the company for a year or less they must give 1 weeks’ notice (it might be more depending on what you decide). For 2 years or more, you will increase the time period and may add on a week for every year thereafter.

You can watch last week video by clicking HERE

4. Other Employment.

Are your employees allowed to work for any other companies?

You have to imagine that you have a new employee. You are going to put a lot of time and effort into training them, getting them up to a good standard and ensuring that they understand what your customers expect from them. If they then go and work for another company whilst working for you then all the time and effort you have put in is going to go and help towards another company, which you don’t really want! You should state in their contract that this is a term of their employment and ensure that you verbally explain this to them too.

However, if you have part-time employees they may well want another job to bring in some extra money. You have two options here, either offer them more hours, which will mean they don’t have to look elsewhere or you could state that they can have another job, but not as a cleaner, so maybe a receptionist, shop worker etc.

That’s all for now, remember to check out last week's video (part 1) and keep your eyes peeled for part 3 and 4, where we will continue discussing what to include in your employee contract!

Thank you very much for your time.

I will see you next week -  same time, same place.

With Love,

Ilze xx