The new financial year is the time to think about budgets and spending plans. April is also the time when new legislation affecting the way you manage your staff often comes into effect along with new guidelines and new rules from a variety of other sources. Many such changes will affect your school’s HR policies. Are you sure your HR policies are up to date?
Consider The Impact Of New Legislation
There are always new pieces of legislation coming into force and, as an employer, you need to consider how they will affect you and your organisation. For example, you may have noted that employees are gaining additional rights to choose to work flexibly during 2014.
All such changes mean that you need to review your school’s HR policies regularly and consider how changes to the laws governing the world of work will affect the ways in which you manage your staff.
Note Changes In School
Changes in school can also mean that you need to look closely at your HR policies.
If you have just taken over a new building, or some new classrooms, these changes could affect your approach to health and safety and staff welfare. Your new block or new classrooms could mean you need to revise the advice you give to staff about how to leave the building in case of a fire. You may also need to revise your guidance to staff members working alone in school.
If you have recently taken on more HR responsibilities as a result of gaining academy status, you will definitely need to check that your HR policies are sufficiently rigorous and that they cover all the people management issues for which you are now responsible.
Are Your School’s HR Policies Up To Date?
Now that you are thinking carefully about your school’s approach to HR, what is your judgement about your HR policies? Are they up to date?
Do you review your HR policies every year? Do you review them in response to changes to HR practice that you hear about? Do you update them only when you have a crisis that shows your current practice’s limitations? Is it time to rethink your approach?
Better HR Policies For Your School
You could save senior leaders’ valuable time, if you ask an HR specialist to review your school’s HR policies and advise you on what you need to do to keep them up to date.
Following the advice of an HR specialist about developments to HR practice that affect you will help you to be confident that your policies address the requirements of the law and are developed in line with good people management practice.
DOHR are specialists in HR. Check out the services we offer to schools to learn more and talk to us as soon as you are ready to think about reviewing your school’s HR policies.
