One of the decisions you may grapple with as a business owner is how to manage your employee matters and whether an HR consultant or an Employment Lawyer would be more suitable.
In this blog, we have spoken to Sue Lappin, HR Consultant and Kate Palka, Client Legal Director and Employment Lawyer to explore some of the differences between legal and HR provision and to show how they can work well together – a good lawyer supporting the HR function to help shape strategy and to put in place best practice in every aspect of an employee’s journey, not just when things go wrong.
When things go wrong
But let’s start with this first.
Sue Lappin, founder of Lappin HR, an outsourced HR solution for SMEs, has vast experience of supporting businesses with their HR matters and feels confident that in the day-to-day operations she is perfectly placed as a trusted adviser to manage all employee-related matters. However, when complex disciplinary issues arise where there is the threat of a tribunal, she understands how serious the consequences can be if not handled well. In these instances, she solicits the support of a lawyer to ensure a good outcome, saying, “Employers come to HR for peace of mind and HR goes to lawyers.”
Sue particularly values the support of in-house lawyers who she sees as “business partners” and regularly consults with them on any performance management or redundancy issues and to get their input on settlement agreements. Timely strategic involvement from a lawyer will minimise the risk of escalation and should the matter go to tribunal, a good lawyer will be able to represent the business’s interests most effectively.
When things are complicated
Good HR Consultants can help draft policies and employee contracts that will be sufficient for a business’s use. However, as Sue points out, when a company structure is complicated, it is useful to bring in additional support: “If you are navigating different groups of employees, and policies don’t fit for each group in the business, it’s really useful to gain the insight of an employment lawyer. They can really help to bring clarity to the situation.”
Building good foundations
Establishing best practice from the outset is the best way to mitigate the risk of future problems. Overlooking important details in the areas of contracts, remuneration, benefits, discipline, grievances and so on, has potentially serious ramifications and a lawyer’s input at the outset could save you time and money in the long run. And a lawyer is perfectly placed to make sure the policies & procedures and employee contracts are designed in a way to mitigate the risk of future problems and to increase employee well-being.
Kate Palka knows that a good in-house, employment lawyer can contribute to more than just a business’s documentation and understands the competing pressures that HR teams face: “In an SME, there often isn’t the time or resource to put everything you want into place. Most HR practitioners spend time dealing with documents and managing employee relations, but it could be so much more than that.”
Kate advocates bringing in legal support at every key touchpoint on the employee journey and thinks that in-house legal support is better placed than an external lawyer to represent a business’s interest and appetite for risk. She believes that a good in-house lawyer can work alongside the board and HR to help implement a strategic approach and organisational and team design which reflects the vision and culture of the leaders in the business. “The benefits of doing this well and investing in your people are numerous”, she says, “You will improve the overall employee experience, get the best out of your people and be able to focus on revenue generation, profit protection, competitive advantage and sustainable growth.” This is a very different approach to reacting to problems once they have arisen.
How TLD can help
We can support your HR function by helping you to develop a living people strategy that benefits both you and the business. Working strategically alongside your board and HR team and focussing on the life cycle of an employee, we can help you put in best practice at every stage of what we call the Employment Pathway:
- Recruitment and onboarding
- Retention, growth and development
- Engagement and reward
- Career management and exit.
To find out more about what this entails, you can download our free “Your People” guide here.
As in-house lawyers, we can work alongside HR creating documentation and processes, and assisting with or advising on employee relations. This means we will understand the risk appetite and culture of your business in a way that a contentious employment lawyer who is just brought in to deal with a problem retrospectively will not. That allows for a consistency in approach that matches the culture and values of the business, hopefully with a view to avoiding those problems becoming contentious in the first place.
And if you would like to discuss your people needs or want to find out how TLD can support your HR function, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat on 020 3056 8538 or info@thelegaldirector.co.uk.
