Part of the beauty of adopting employment law best practice is that not only can it save the business costs in the long run but it can increase employee engagement if handled correctly.

It can work in the converse if you are the sort of business that has never had written contracts of employment or a policy on anything. If you suddenly (without careful management and employee buy-in) start issuing contracts and policies staff can start to feel uneasy.

However, having policies itself is not enough, they have to be adopted into the business otherwise they languish in a draw and you have wasted your time. All staff should have a written contract either a contract of employment or a IR-35 compliant agreement for self-employed staff. Businesses should have a disciplinary and grievance policy which can be in one document or separated. Businesses should also have an equal opportunities policy. All policies should be communicated and shared with staff so they are adopted fully within the organisation.

Adopting employment law best practice can increase employee engagement as they feel valued. Pay and benefits are part of an employee’s motivation but don’t be fooled into thinking that if you pay more than your competitors staff will stay with you. As the economy picks up employee retention becomes paramount but there are other ways that you can increase employee engagement than just pay/benefits and employment law best practices:

– Encourage ownership of ideas, include them in some of the business decisions through committees perhaps as simple as the “social committee” organising the Christmas party rather than the boss;
– Say thank you and make them feel valued perhaps even some form of prize for a team or employee of the month;
– Think outside the box on the rewards package, offering health care or flexible working may appeal to some more than a pay rise;
– Encourage ideas and feedback from staff as the business owner you do not have a monopoly on ideas;
– Encourage team work or consider team bonding experiences to ensure staff don’t just work in isolation.

Over to you, any other ideas for employee engagement?