TAKING ON NEW STAFF

Recruitment

When an employee leaves or your business expands, you need to recruit new staff. Because of the importance of having good staff, it is essential to spend time trying to recruit the best people you can. Think about the type of person who will fit into your business and be able to interact with your customers in a positive way. Consider what skills and experience they will need to fulfil their role. Do you want someone who has had experience of doing the job before, or will you be happy to train them your way?

Job descriptions and person specifications

To help clarify your ideas, draft a simple job description, which lists all the major tasks involved in doing the job. From this, you can prepare a person specification for the role that identifies essential and desirable attributes. This helps you concentrate on the attributes required to do the job and makes the task of comparing candidates easier. An example of an abbreviated person specification is shown below:

Job Title: Bar staff	Wage: £ 5.50 per hour
Summary of job: General bar duties including serving drinks and meals to customers. Required to work 26 hours per week including Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Attributes Experience:	Essential Minimum of 6 months’ experience in a similar role.	Desirable
Personality:	Pleasant, outgoing personality.
Physical:	Able to work behind a bar for extended periods.
Specialist knowledge:		Knowledge of wines.
Training:		Hold British Institute of Innkeeping Barperson’s National Certificate.
Qualifications:		Hold recognised licensing qualification.
Other requirements:

Advertising your vacancies

Once you have prepared your person specification, you can use this to put together a brief job advertisement, which highlights the kind of person you are looking for. Fortunately, most vacancies will be filled without the need to place expensive newspaper or magazine advertisements. (Occasionally, more specialist roles, such as chefs may need advertising in this way.) Here are some low-cost ways to fill your vacancies:

• Ask your existing staff if they know anyone who may be suitable.
• Advertise in your pub window.
• Advertise at the bar or in the pub toilets.
• Advertise in your local jobcentre.

Interviews

Interviewing potential staff should be done in an area away from the day-to-day distractions of running your pub. Plan to see applicants at a quiet part of the day when you can devote time to interviewing them properly. This can be difficult when you are approached by someone interested in your vacancy while you are in the middle of a busy period. In these circumstances, rather than having a rushed conversation, explain to them that it is not convenient and arrange to see them again at a more suitable time. If you have advertised your vacancy in the job centre, you can specify on the advert when candidates should telephone you or visit you to discuss the position.

Interviews can be kept informal over a cup of coffee, but make sure that you are prepared and are clear about the kind of skills, personality and experience you require. Have details of the job description and person specification with you, together with rates of pay. Keep notes on each applicant that you can refer to after the interview. Explain the role and what you expect of them. Work through the person specification to gauge whether their skills and experience match your requirements. If they have been employed in the licensed trade before, ask if you can contact their previous employer for a reference if necessary. Answer any questions the applicant may have and explain to them what will happen next. (If you have a number of applicants to interview, you should let them know when you will notify them if they have been successful. Alternatively, you may be in a position to offer a person the job at the end of the interview.) Follow up any verbal offer of employment in writing, confirming the summary of the job, rates of pay, hours and start date.

Discrimination

Anyone who considers that they have been discriminated against during the process of recruitment and selection can make a claim to an employment tribunal, who may award them compensation. The law penalises anyone discriminating on the following grounds:

• gender;
• race;
• disability;
• religion or belief;
• sexual orientation;
• trade union membership;
• age.

To avoid potential discrimination claims, make sure you base your staff selection on the requirements of the job and treat all applicants fairly and consistently.

Eligibility to work in the UK

Anyone you employ must be eligible to live and work in the UK. It is a criminal offence to employ anyone, aged 16 or over, who doesn’t have permission to work in the UK. The maximum penalty is currently £ 5,000 per illegal employee. Prior to taking on a new employee, you should check and keep a record of documents confirming an individual’s eligibility to work in the UK. If requesting documents at an earlier stage of the recruitment process, you must ensure that you ask all applicants for the same information to avoid claims of discrimination.

Induction procedure and training

It is good practice to have a planned induction procedure for new employees. This does not have to be detailed or complicated but it should help introduce the individual to the pub, their colleagues and your customers. You should also ensure that they are clear about what you expect of them: their tasks and the standards you require. It helps to induct new employees during less busy periods where you can devote time to them and allow them to become familiar with their new environment. A typical induction procedure for bar staff will include:

• Introductions to other members of staff.
• Familiarisation with the pub layout.
• Familiarisation with beer dispense equipment and glassware.
• Use of tills.
• Location of products, bar layout and stores.
• Characteristics of main products.
• Location of first aid and fire fighting equipment.
• Safe use of equipment.
• Health and safety issues.
• How you like customers to be addressed.
• How you like the telephone answered.
• General standards of service and cleanliness.
• Details of any special offers and sales promotions.
• Who they should speak to in case of queries or difficulties.

Make time at the end of your new employee’s first session to check that they are happy with things and follow this up again at the end of their first week. It is a good opportunity to clarify any areas of their job that they are unsure about and a good time for you to ‘correct’ anything that you are not happy with.

The level of training new applicants will require depends on how experienced they are at doing the job. Inexperienced staff will need to be coached by you or other capable members of staff. Even new staff with years of experience may have picked up bad habits or do things differently from how you want them to be done. It is worth running through their main tasks to ensure that they understand what is expected of them. Ongoing training keeps staff up to date and motivated. Try to incorporate some regular training for all staff into your business routine. Training sessions do not have to take up a great deal of time; short sessions can be just as effective. Make use of suppliers, local colleges and any information you pick up yourself from the licensed trade press (which features many excellent training tips). Keep a record of the training you have given to your staff.