 Your staff are your co-operative's most important asset. In this video, we'll take you on a journey, from recruitment to ending employment. We'll be focusing on what the law says you must do, as well as the HR systems and processes you'll need. So, what are the HR basics you'll need? A recruitment process which is fair and finds the people you need. A payroll system for paying staff. A secure system for recording and holding confidential employee data. An understanding of your legal obligations as an employer. A fair process for dismissing staff and dealing with leavers. Employing the right people with the right skills is crucial. Making the wrong recruitment choices can be expensive and disruptive. You may not even need an employee. Other options include taking on someone who is self-employed or using a volunteer or an agency worker. Think about your staffing needs over the coming weeks and months. Recruitment involves six simple steps. Job description, Advertise, Interview, Select, Check and Appoint. You can watch our video on recruitment. But for now, we'll focus on a few of the most important points. Spending time preparing a job description will help you focus on what you need. Write a list of the job's main tasks and the skills you are looking for. You'll also use the finished job description to interview and select your new recruit. You can find examples of job descriptions on many job board websites. Job applicants are protected from discrimination. So make sure you only list duties and skills which are really needed and are not discriminatory on any of the grounds listed here. When you've made your selection, you must provide your new recruit with a written document setting out their key terms and conditions. You can find a sample employment contract at When it comes to hours, you can offer the role on a part-time or full-time basis. But make sure that you provide appropriate daily and weekly rest periods. Employees are protected from working more than 48 hours per week, but can agree to opt out. You must not employ someone who does not have the right to work in the UK. Before your new employee starts work, you must ask them to provide a document from an approved list confirming their right to work in the UK. This list can be found at www.gov.uk Don't forget to take a copy of the document you are provided with by the employee. If the role will involve regular contact with vulnerable adults or children, you may need to request a DBS criminal records check. When your employee starts work, you should give them a tour of the workplace and facilities. This will help your new recruit to fit into the organisation quickly and easily. Many companies provide their new members of staff with a handbook which contains key policies and procedures as well as information needed to carry out the role. It is a good idea to include a copy of your cooperative's disciplinary and grievance policies. You must pay your employees at least the national minimum wage and you may need to provide a workplace pension. Over the next few years, all companies will also have to provide a workplace pension. Check when your company is required to do this. Employees are entitled to be paid in some circumstances even when they are not at work. Some common examples are maternity pay, sick pay and holiday pay. You'll need a system to pay your employees their wages. Most employers pay their employees directly into their bank account but you could choose to pay your employee by check or cash. Before you pay your employees, you must deduct national insurance and income tax. As an employer, you are responsible for paying these deductions to HM Revenue and Customs. There are some free payroll software options available to help. You must issue your employees with pay slips showing their total pay, the amount of any deductions and their final pay. You cannot make any further deductions i.e. for overpaid wages without the consent of the employee. As an employer, you'll receive a lot of confidential information about your employees. You must store both paper records and electronic data securely and not send the data to anyone without the employee's consent. You can find out more about your data protection duties at Employees that work full-time must receive 28 days holiday per year. Public holidays can be included within this number. Holidays must be paid at the normal rate of pay. You can set the times that your employees take their leave, for example if you have a Christmas shutdown. Holidays are prorated for part-time workers. Where an employee has been off sick for four or more days, they become eligible to be paid statutory sick pay for up to 28 weeks. Employees must give their employer a doctor's fit's note if they're off sick for more than seven days in a row. It is important that you monitor sickness absence levels. It is a good idea to meet with the employee upon their return to work to find out if they are fit to return and understand the reasons for their absence. Employees that fail to keep good attendance or are off sick for a long period may be dismissed. However, you must follow a fair process. Watch our video on managing absence for more information. Employees have the right to be paid time off for maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and adoption leave. How much leave are employees entitled to? Up to 52 weeks for maternity leave and the right to be paid statutory maternity pay for 39 weeks. Up to 52 weeks for adoption leave and the same right to be paid statutory adoption pay for 39 weeks. Up to two weeks off for paternity leave, employees must be paid statutory paternity pay. Up to 50 weeks for shared parental leave and the rights to be paid statutory shared parental pay. Shared parental leave allows parents to share maternity or adoption leave with more flexibility. Your employees will also be protected from dismissal and discrimination. There is also a limited right to return to the same job. As an employer, it is essential that you carry out a risk assessment to look at what may present a risk to people's health within the workplace. This may include contact with chemicals, dust and also risks of slips and trips. There are some sample risk assessments available at hse.gov.uk. This area of HR can be complex and specialist advice can be really helpful. Make sure that you get employer's liability insurance in place. Employees are protected from discrimination within the workplace. You must not discriminate against your employees or job applicants on the basis of any of the reasons listed here. The law requires that you make reasonable adjustments for any employee who is disabled. What is reasonable depends on the circumstances. Employees may want to raise concerns, problems or complaints with you. You must have a policy in place for dealing with these issues. These are the stages of any grievance process. Putting the complaint in writing, investigation, holding a meeting to discuss the issues and allow the employee an opportunity to appeal if they are unhappy with the outcome. Employees are entitled to be accompanied at any grievance or appeal meeting. If you need more help, go to staff may either choose to leave or you may dismiss them. If your staff choose to leave, it is good practice to find out the reasons for their departure. The typical reasons for dismissing staff are for poor conduct, attendance or performance. You may choose to cover all these issues within a disciplinary policy or better within separate policies. Your policy should set out what good and bad conduct looks like. The same stages of investigation into the issues, meeting and appeal apply across all reasons for dismissal. But you will be looking at different issues. Employees have the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official at any disciplinary meeting. If you need more help, go to Where you dismiss an employee, you must give them notice. Employees are entitled after one month of work to one week of notice for each year of employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. The only exception to this is where the conduct amounts to gross misconduct. This is conduct that is so serious that you can terminate the contract with immediate effect. For example, violence in the workplace. After two years of service, employees are entitled to bring an unfair dismissal claim if they feel that their dismissal was unfair. Watch our videos on performance, absence and misconduct issues to find out more.