Employing someone for the first time

[NewBusiness2016]

Hi.

I am looking to take someone on, part time, on an employed basis.

We sell personal training in hourly slots so, for now, I can only offer the employee a few hours to cover these slots but if we sell more slots then they will need someone to cover them.

Initially there will only be a few hours work each week so I wondered what the situation would be if the business needs them to do more. To put it bluntly, can I make them do more or replace them if they refuse to do more?

Any advice on the best way to do this? Zero hours?

Many thanks

 

[Newchodge]

If you already know that you need someone for x hours then how can you think you need them for zero hours. Zero hours is when you genuinely don't know if you need any work doing week to week.

Employ them on a basic contract with the hours that you know that you need. If you need more, ask if they can do more. Give the extra hours as overtime until you know if they are a long term requirement. Then discuss increasing the contracted hours.

You can dismiss anyone for a non-equality based reason at any time during their first 2 years of employment. However dismissing someone because they refused to take on additional hours MAY be an equality based reason if they could not do the additional hours because of childcare commitments, for example.

You need to consider that taking on an employee is a joint enterprise between you and them. If you expect everything to be done solely for your convenience and ignore their needs you may find it hard to keep staff.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

If you cannot offer a decent amount of work and a good contract then you will find them off the first real job comes along probably as you would do yourself

Have you considered looking at another couple of trainers and agreeing to look after each other for holidays etc and get the full pay for each job done

When you are well known enough to have plenty of extra work if you want it then offer someone a decent salary and contract

 

[NewBusiness2016]

Many thanks for your replies.

Cyndy, the work we have can change from week to week, depending on clients' needs and seasonal demand, so we could need someone for 3 hours a week for 8 weeks and then nothing for a few weeks, then maybe 10 hours a week.

The plan would be to get to a stage where we could offer them a set number of part time or full time hours.

Would a zero hours contract not be suitable for the interim?

 

[NewBusiness2016]

Hi Chris.

Yes I know what you mean about them leaving. If the business didn't grow to a stage where we could offer them a lot more hours then we'd probably pack it in too! What we're trying to do is dip our toe in, see if we can make it work and if it does then our employees can grow with us.

 

[Newchodge]

Yes, what you describe here is a classic zero hours contract. If you know that you need at least 5 hours every week that is a 5 hour contract plus overtime as and when. If it is unclear if you need anything week to week, then it is zero hours.

 

[NewBusiness2016]

Thank you Cindy - much appreciated!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

How many hours a week do you work at present and how many hours are you available to work if the work was there

When the numbers merge you can happily give up say your five hours a week and guarantee the other person those five

If you are not working all the hours or very nearly why do you need someone else

Would your clients accept someone else as its a close relationship normally between you and your client

Added costs like insurance, pensions etc may make it hard to make financial sence on such low hours

 

[NewBusiness2016]

I’m not sure if it’s best to post on here or to create a new thread but I thought I would first post here so that people can see how things have progressed and maybe help them when they are making similar decisions at the start of a business.

So, we are now just over a year on from my last post.

We now have 2 self employed coaches who cover around 50 hours between them.

The plan now is to create an employed position.

Again, the hours can be relatively consistent during the summer and then drop off a little in the winter. Some clients are only doing eight week programs and some clients are doing more longer term programs but they could all just up and leave whenever - having said that, that could be said about many businesses.

So, I’m looking for advice on what kind of contract to create.

If I employed someone on a 30 hour contract and there were only 25 hours available one week would I still be obliged to give them 30 hours and have them standing around doing nothing or performing non-income generating jobs such as cleaning?

Or would it be better to offer them a minimum of 20 hours and write into the contract that I expect them to do 30 hours if it is available?

We have a really good relationship with our subcontracted coaches and we bend over backwards to look after them so I want a contract that works well for us both.

 

[Mr D]

If self employed contractors are working out for you why would you want to get employees? They are more expensive, among other things you get to pay NI and if relevant, pension payments too on top of wages.

Presuming you go ahead with employees then...
Have you thought of annualised hours? With certain hours between certain dates and lower hours between other certain dates?
Never experienced that myself but have come across people doing it a couple of times in outside work.
Bit like teachers, paid the same monthly salary each month but hours worked in a month being low in summer.

 

[NewBusiness2016]

Hi Mr D.

We want someone who is committed to the business and over whom we have a bit more control.

Subcontractors are good but they are free to accept or decline work as they wish and they sometimes prioritise the clients.

We need somebody for whom we are the priority so we have put together what we think is very good remuneration and rewards package. We just need to work out how to put it into a contract.