case studies

S R Brown Ltd

Wearing several hats simultaneously is part of the territory when you’re co-director of a 30-strong firm of plumbing and heating engineers.  But when it came to producing contracts of employment, Company Secretary Dorothy Brown was uneasy about relying on a standard template, especially when she wanted to introduce some changes.

“It’s always worried me that it’s not bang up to date, and with us having such a lot of employees now I wanted it done properly”, she explained.  Accordingly, Lancaster-based company Employer Solutions was engaged to re-draft the contracts in line with best professional practice.

They did more than that: they also set-up and installed an Employee Handbook which pulled together the various strands of company policy into one place, and which is now regularly updated to reflect current legislation. All employees have access to the Handbook on-line as well as in hard copy in the office, and apparently the engineers were duly impressed when Dorothy demonstrated the facility individually to them on screen.  They were pleased to be able to obtain the information they wanted via the Internet, and also to know that the company had access to highly professional back-up in the event of any issues arising.

A particular success has been the introduction of a 24-hour call-out scheme, which under the old contract could not be enforced. Although the engineers were initially somewhat uncertain about the potential implications for them, the new and carefully worded contracts have allayed their concerns and most of them are now on board - voluntarily.  This scheme will provide much reassurance for customers.

“The Handbook covers everything, such as pay during jury service and verbal warnings – it’s all there in black and white”, said Dorothy.  “If there’s anything I don’t understand, I can ring Employer Solutions. It’s a big reassurance because I know I’m complying with everything.”