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Employing & managing staff

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The latest guides on employing and managing full or part time staff effectively as a small business owner or sole trader, brought to you in partnership with Sage. Contains advice on employment law, health and safety at work, recruitment, training, redundancy and disciplinary information, employee rights, workplace regulations, and much more.

This section provides expert and in-depth advice articles on all aspects of staff management and human resources legislation. Our aim is to help UK small businesses to hire great employees, manage them effectively and look after them properly.

Other key topics covered in this employing staff section include team management, employee motivation, legal rights and responsibilities, managing absence, maternity pay and leave, taking on new staff, induction programmes, communication, workplace policies, flexible working, job descriptions, employment contracts and related information.

We also provide information on HR tools, templates and resources specially targeted at SMEs as well as suitable training courses and workshops that can help you get the best out of your staff to make a more efficient, more profitable, happy and productive company.

Get more time back to build your business with Sage’s one solution for all your business needs. Get accounting and payroll with HR features you can access from anywhere, all with award-winning support and unrivalled business advice.

Guide to Apprenticeships

In a recent survey conducted amongst members of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), 31.8 per cent reported experiencing skill shortages amongst their current staff, in managerial, advanced IT, technical and sales and marketing roles. So what's to be done? SmallBusiness.co.uk teamed up with the FSB to give you this guide to apprenticeships.

Employing & managing staff

Employing & managing staff

Do you have to advertise vacancies internally in all circumstances?

The advertising of vacancies is, to a degree, a balancing act.

Employing & managing staff

The benefits of a virtual workforce

If things start to get on top of you while running a successful small business, it may become necessary to enlist further help. Yet employing additional, permanent staff brings with it extra headaches. SmallBusiness.co.uk spoke to Xenios Thrasyvoulou, founder and chief executive of online skills marketplace Peopleperhour.com about the benefits of using a virtual workforce.

Employing & managing staff

Annual leave for part-timers

Our full-time staff work 37 hours a week with 4 weeks annual leave excluding bank holidays. Part-timers work different hours each day. How do I calculate their leave? How do I calculate it if they change their contractual hours?

Employing & managing staff

Bank holiday payments to part-time staff

Are part-time staff entitled to pay on bank holidays when the business is closed?

Employing & managing staff

Advertise jobs internally or externally?

If a position of employment becomes available, does it have to be advertised or offered internally first?

Employing & managing staff

Employing part-time bar staff

I run a bar and employ four part-time staff. Two of them have full-time jobs. Do I need to issue them with a contract of employment and how does holiday pay work in this instance?

Employing & managing staff

Rules for compassionate leave time off work paid or unpaid

An employee's brother has unfortunately died. What are the rules for time off paid or unpaid?

Employing & managing staff

Employing part-time bar staff

I run a bar and employ four part-time staff. Two of them have full-time jobs. Do I need to issue them with a contract of employment and how does holiday pay work in this instance?

Employing & managing staff

Rules for compassionate leave time off work paid or unpaid

An employee's brother has unfortunately died. What are the rules for time off paid or unpaid?

Employing & managing staff

Personal hygiene issues

One of my staff regularly smells of urine. Despite sympathetically asking her on many occasions to address the problem she has failed to do so. What is the position regarding her employment? If I have to, can I ask her to leave?

Employing & managing staff

Am I obliged to offer a pension scheme?

I'm just about to launch a domestic cleaning and laundry business and plan to recruit up to 20 people over the next 2 - 3 years. Am I obliged to offer some sort of access to a pension scheme, either now or in line with my predicted growth of employee numbers? There seems to be lots of advice out there but much of it is conflicting.

Employing & managing staff

Guide to induction and training

The usual definition of induction is a formal introduction of a new employee to a job. However, Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula and SmallBusiness.co.uk, our Q&A panel expert, feels that induction and training should not only happen at the start of employment, but ‘should be ongoing in order to provide solutions to problems as the job duties change’.

Employing & managing staff

Lateness: a ‘national epidemic’

It seems Monday is the day that most of us are late for work, with 65 per cent of all tardiness occurring at the start of the week, says a new survey of 2,149 employees across the UK.

Business Loans

A guide to getting a small business loan

Everything you need to know on what small business loans are and what types of loan are available for your business.

Partner content

Small business owners: discover alternative funding solutions to help fuel your growth

Business Technology

Why you should upgrade your tech now rather than later

To run an optimal business, you must have optimal tech. We explain why you must upgrade your business technology on a regular basis

Investing in a franchise

Should I buy a franchise or go solo?

Starting a new business is an exciting venture. But – especially in well-established industry sectors – a key question is whether it would be better to buy a franchise or go solo.