T is for...

Trust. Going in with a big hitter here! You just can’t underestimate the importance of trust in the employment relationship. It’s inherently an implied term in any contract, and just like in any relationship, once it’s broken it’s very hard to get back. 

Employing people is a big deal and when you’ve started a business from scratch it’s natural to be a little worried about whether your business will mean as much to them as it does to you. The reality is, it probably won’t. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to do a bad job. So you shouldn’t manage them as if they will. 

It might take a lot of biting your lip and taking a step back, but there’s a well known quote that’s relevant here. It’s from Steve Jobs and it goes a little something like this: “It doesn’t make sense to hire people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” 

Time off for dependants. 

You might not think it links well to trust, but we often see employers get frustrated by people asking for time off to look after a dependant. Why? Well because this is an entitlement to time off at short notice, and of course as an employer having people absent at short notice can be a challenge. 

It’s worth bearing in mind that this is a statutory right and there are two things that might make it more palatable. Firstly, the right is to unpaid time off, so you can withhold pay if you want. Secondly, the right is to deal with an emergency which means that once the initial emergency has passed you could reasonably expect someone to come back to work. 

And this is where the trust comes in. Someone’s circumstances might be very different to yours which means they need longer off than you would. This is one of those situations where taking someone at face value is important, but if it becomes an issue you can of course speak to them about their situation. If in doubt then speak to us for advice. 

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