contract law for staff

[Goodegging]

in football clubs the players have to sign contracts and things. nude models have to sign contracts too - like you must pose for at least one photo shoot per month which we can display on web and the contract lasts one year.

if i was too employ staff within my shop could i also get them sign a contract like you must work within the business for at least one year and working 2shifts minimum per week? (its a catering establishment - its low pay and high turnover of staff - so could i combat the high turnover by getting them to sign the contract?

[HRGuy]

As long as you're not breaking the law you can put most things in a Contract of Employment. Shift structure, minimum working hours, etc would be sensible/fundamental.

With regard to 'forcing' staff to stay you could always specify a significant notice period (e.g. 6 months).


However this would probably cause more problems than it solves -

If you've got a member of staff who wants to leave do you really want to force them to stay, possibly upsetting your customers and demotivating other member of staff?

As these are low paid staff what do you intend to do if they leave before the end of their notice period - pursue them (incurring costs as you do) for breach of contract?


A better approach would be to have a sensible notice period (for the level of staff you're talking about I would guess it's measured in weeks) but look to see if there are any ways in which you can make them want to stay.

I guess the answer is no but, are there any rewards you can offer them for staying such as discounts, loyalty bonus after 6 months, etc?

Rgds

[snipe12]

I wouldn't bother, they will cause you too much hassle.

I think HR guys idea of rewards is a good one but it would have to be good. I have known lots of staff leave one company and move to another for the sake of 10p per hour. A massive generalisation but staff who work in our trade are not loyal, it's all about the money and who can blame them when most earn so little. If you keep up to speed with the going rate you will reduce the turnover a little but the other thing is they always get bored and move every year or two anyway.

[Sphinx]

I know one company that operates a bonus scheme. The workers get paid a basic rate, and every 3 months (as long as they stay) they get paid a 'bonus' of £0.50 per hour for all the hours they have worked in the 3 months. That would be the actual hourly rate realisticly, but if some one left before the next three months was up (and i imagine the date of the three month period would vary from employee to employee depending on the start date) the company would save a bit of money.

Another way to get staff to stay is by making them do training courses, if there are any that have to be done by law (and probably even courses that aren't needed by law). You can have it in their contract that they would have to reinburse the cost of the training if they left before a certain time. I know lots of care companies who use this technique.