DO YOU NEED STAFF?

Whereas in a manufacturing business it is wise to consider new staff in terms of increased production, in hotels extra staff will rarely increase turnover. You may be able to carry out a particular function better, or it may lessen someone else’s workload, or it may free principals to do other things.

Assessment of needs

Since salaries and wages are frequently a hotelier’s biggest outlay, you will be wise to consider in depth why you think you need an extra pair of hands and what the implications are:

• Do you require a special skill you feel you might not have the time or ability to carry out yourself?
• Do you have the time to train a new member of staff?
• Do you need someone extra all the time – or just at peak times?
• Can the employee carry out other duties when not engaged on the main task?
• Are you happy to let someone inexperienced loose on your guests?
• Can you really afford to take someone on?

Inevitably many employees do not work as hard nor as conscientiously as someone who derives direct profit from the business. It is sensible, therefore, to employ the absolute minimum you can. By studying the answers to the previous questions, you will be able to decide if you really need to take someone on. If the answer is ‘Yes,’ draw up a job description to show:

• the job title
• the purpose of the job
• the main tasks to be performed
• the duties
• any possible job development.

From the information you have listed, you will be able to decide whether you want full-time or part-time staff.

Although the procedure might seem a little cumbersome for taking someone on, for example, to wait on tables, it is a useful exercise each time you think of new staff.

When considering whether you need staff, bear in mind employment legislation is complicated, is becoming increasingly so, and is always liable to change. Hence the provision of Public Enquiry Points at most main offices of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS). Telephone numbers are in all local directories.

Taking on existing staff

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, as amended, you have no option but to take on existing staff under certain circumstances, since employees employed by the vendor automatically become employees of the new owner on the same terms and conditions. The situation, however, may not be straightforward. Employment Rights on transfer of an undertaking (PL699), may be downloaded from the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/publications.

For clarification on specific sets of circumstances, you should speak to the appropriate regional office of ACAS, or consult your solicitor.

Recruiting new staff

Staff may be recruited through:

• the local Jobcentre/website
• local employment agencies
• local/national advertising
• word of mouth.

Trainees cost employers less than conventional members of staff but hoteliers are expected to have a commitment to training and, ideally, will themselves have a formal training qualification such as a Craft Training Award. Advice may be obtained from Stonebow, 2nd floor, Armstrong House, 38 Market Square, Uxbridge UB8 1LH, tel: (0870) 060 2552, fax: (0870) 060 2551, web: www.stonebow.co.uk, and from some Universities and Colleges of Further Education.

The local Connexions Office will assist if you wish to take on a young person under the age of 19. Web: www.connexions.gov.uk.

You want to find the right person straight away, so think what you will expect from an employee, especially one who will come into direct contact with your guests. Remember that guests need to be impressed; you don’t want a member of your staff to undo all the hard work you have put in to making their stay memorable.

To build up a picture of the sort of employees you want, consider:

• Their health – hotel work is arduous.
• Their appearance – do they look as you like a waiter, or whatever, to look?
• Their manner – guests need to be treated with respect.
• The way they talk. Guests must be able to understand what they say (but do not contravene the Race Relations Act 1976).
• Some experience may save you time training them.
• A good standard of education may help them to communicate more effectively.
• If over-qualified, they could easily get bored and might not stay.
• Is their personality suited to the job they will be doing?

In drafting an advertisement, which should be reasonably informal, state:

• the job title
• the wages offered
• your requirements eg experience, educational and/or professional qualifications, and personal qualities.

Finally, make sure your advertisement does not contravene the law.

You must not insist on any particular race or colour (Race Relations Act 1976) nor can you require only males or females or unmarried persons (Sex Discrimination Act 1975), or exclude women of child-bearing age.

Having drawn up a short list of maybe five or six candidates, assuming the response has been good, allocate as much time as you can for interviewing. You will not be able to assess candidates properly unless there is enough time to put them at their ease before the interview starts in earnest. Then give them sufficient time to answer questions and show you what they’re made of.

Ask them, for instance, what do you find attractive about this position? What did you find unattractive about your last/present job? How do you see your future in catering? Your notebook and pen will be handy. All the time think of what you expect of a person in that position. Will the interviewee fit in with your other staff? Will your guests be impressed?

Since candidates often choose employers at interviews and you don’t want to lose the best because you have failed to impress, make sure you are in a position to answer any questions you may be asked. Interviews should be two-way, not just a means of eliciting essential information from a cowed candidate. If you are to work together you will need a good rapport.

EMPLOYING STAFF

There are a number of points to bear in mind when you take on staff. But whatever your obligations in law, you are the one doing the employing, you are entitled to have the staff you want and you can get rid of staff who are unsatisfactory. You must, however, be fair.

Your commitment

The theme running like a thread through employment law today is fairness. Employees need to know what their contract of employment with you is, in other words what terms and conditions have been agreed between you. You are obliged to furnish an employee you keep for one month with a written statement within two months of starting work. It must include:

• The names of the employer and employee.
• The date when the employment began.
• If any previous employment counts as part of the period of continuous employment, the date it began.
• The rate of pay at a specific date.
• The intervals at which payment is made.
• Any terms and conditions relating to: hours of work; holiday pay (including entitlement on termination of employment); incapacity for work due to sickness/injury including payment; any pensions and pension schemes.
• Length of notice of termination to be given by each side.
• The job title or a job description.

Before attempting to write a statement, get DTI PL700 and PL700A publications which may be downloaded from: www.dti.gov.uk/publications. They give full details, including a specimen statement.

Training

When you employ staff, you should look upon yourself as a continual trainer. Staff will take their lead from you and if you show the wrong attitude, so will they. If you find an employee doing something incorrectly, start by asking yourself the reason why. If staff are not told and/or shown the proper way to do a job, they will not know and you can’t expect them to do things as you want them done.

Formal training for the sort of staff you might employ is provided by, among others, Colleges of Further Education. There have been schemes which allowed for training to be given free of charge and grants may be available. (Speak also to your local Business Link or Enterprise Agency.) Training, formal or informal, is a prerequisite of efficiency.

Disciplinary procedures

Discipline is always a touchy subject. Recommended disciplinary practice and procedures are set out in DTI publication Individual Rights of Employees. As with all small DTI publications, no hard copy is available and it must be down-loaded from the DTI website. A booklet, Discipline and grievances at work, the result of the Employment Act 2002 and showing a new three-step approach, may be obtained from ACAS, tel: (0845) 747 4747, web: www.acas.org.uk.

Employees’ rights

These include time off to look for alternative work whilst on notice, the right to return to work after pregnancy, redundancy payments (if applicable), the right to complain of unfair dismissal and receiving written notice of the reasons for dismissal. Also covered are time off for dependents, time off for ante-natal care, parental leave, maternity rights, and the duty of care to be provided with a reasonable standard of health, safety and welfare. An employer’s responsibilities in this respect also apply to your guests.

Health and safety

The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 applies to the premises as well, eg the state of floor covering and electrical fittings, indeed anything which puts people at risk.

Some of the other provisions for you to think about are:

• If you employ anyone, you need to register with your Local Authority Environmental Health Department.
• Employees may not be required to work excessive hours or unsuitable shift patterns which may lead to ill health or accidents caused by fatigue. The Working Time Regulations 1998, as amended, cover specifically working hours, rest breaks, weekly rest periods, shift patterns and annual leave entitlements. To avoid falling foul of this highly-complicated piece of legislation, you may alternatively, following set procedures, enter into a workforce agreement with your staff plus individual ones with those working more than 48 hours a week. Your Local Authority Health & Safety Enforcement Officer will tell you what the requirements are. A complete guide, produced by solicitors for employers, is available free to full members of the British Hospitality Association, also, A Guide to Working Time Regulations, may be downloaded from the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/publications.

If you consider the following list of Regulations (by no means exhaustive):

• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
• Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regs 2002
• Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002
• Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002
• Work at Height Regulations 2005
• Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002
• Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002
• Additional regulations on Manual Handling, Personal Protective Equipment, Display Screens, Noise, Stress, and control of legionella in water systems

you will realise the plethora of Health and Safety law with which you are required to comply.

Although application of the law is largely common sense, you should read the following booklets, most of which are free, obtainable from HSE Books (see below): The main health and safety law applicable to catering, Five steps to risk assessment, and, if you have five or more employees, Stating your business (writing a health and safety policy document). Health and safety- Your guide, and Managing Health and Safety pays in the Catering Industry, plus a number of other leaflets may also be of interest. Advice is given by Environmental Health Officers, on the HSE infoline, tel: (0870) 154 5500, or by email: hseinformationservices@natbrit.com.

Under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, either an up-to-date poster must be displayed or each employee must be handed a leaflet setting out basic information on health and safety. Posters and leaflets, both of which change from time to time, are obtainable from:

HSE Books

PO Box 1999

Sudbury

Suffolk CO10 2WA.

tel: (01787)881165.

fax: (01787)313995.

web: www.hsebooks.com

email: hsebooks@prolog.uk.com

In addition, if five or more people are employed, a written health and safety policy statement must be produced. Though that may not apply to you, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 do, and by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 you are obliged to assess all hazards and risks throughout your establishment. There is no obligation to record your findings if you have fewer than five employees, but it is strongly recommended that you do so.

Accidents can and do occur in hotels, particularly in kitchens. As a hotelier, under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995, you have a duty to report as soon as possible, usually by telephone or by completing a form on the website:

• a death or major injury
• a dangerous occurrence (this is when something happens that does not result in a reportable injury but which clearly could have done)

and within ten days:

• an over-three-day injury (that is when an employee or self-employed person has an accident at work and is unable to work for over three days, but does not have a major injury)
• a work-related disease.

Full details are on the website: www.riddor.gov.uk. Notification may be by telephone to your local EHO on (0845) 300 9923, fax: (0845) 300 9924, by post to Incident Contact Centre, Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG, or by completing a form on the website. Email: riddor@natbrit.com

A record must be kept of all reportable matters, usually on Forms 2508 or 2508A, which will be sent to you.

Payment

It is an offence to pay less than the statutory minimum wage (National Minimum Wage Act 1998) and, in most circumstances, to pay men and women different rates for the same job (Equal Pay Act 1970). Details of current rates and guidance with regard to the staff accommodation offset and the treatment of tips may be obtained from Jobcentres or by contacting the National Minimum Wage Helpline, tel: (0845) 600 0678, web: www.dti.gov.uk/er/nmw.

Each year in the Budget, a limit is set above which income tax and National Insurance contributions must be paid. If any of your employees earn more than these lower earnings limits, you are obliged by law to deduct tax and/or National Insurance contributions from their pay on behalf of the government under Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

For this reason you should notify the Inland Revenue as soon as you employ staff, even if their pay is below the limits. (This is in case they have other earnings you know nothing about.) You will be sent an Employers’ Starter Pack which contains all the instructions, tables and forms you need to operate PAYE, to deduct NI contributions and to deal with sick and holiday pay. There is a national helpline for new employers (0845 607 0143) and another helpline (0845 915 4515) for the newly self-employed, plus a CD-Rom. Advice from a Business Support Team, tel: (01233) 653673, is also available.

Your obligations extend to collecting from employees a Form P45 and to furnishing them with a pay slip. In the absence of a Form P45 you must send in a Form P46.

Your own record will be kept on deductions working sheets (Form P11), one for each employee. These must be retained for a minimum of three years and if you have only a few employees can serve as your only wages records.

The deductions are calculated from the tables you are sent and together with a payslip (obtainable in books from the Inland Revenue) you will send both tax and NI contributions to the Revenue by the 19th of the month following that in which the deductions are made.

At the end of each year, a summary sheet (Form P14) is made out in triplicate and the top two copies sent to the Revenue. The third copy is given to the employee as Form P60.

By May 2010, on-line filing of end-of-year returns will be compulsory for those employing fewer than 50 staff. Check out the monetary incentives that are offered in certain circumstances – they could be worth taking up.