HR Administration
HR administration covers a wide range of topics, from new starters, the right to work in the UK documentation, employment data, recording absence, holiday monitoring, through to changes of terms during employment and administration relating to leavers.
There is also admin around family friendly rights (maternity, paternity, parental leave etc) which is covered in the Family Friendly section.
Please refer to other sections for administration around specific topics for example Contracts of Employment or Family Friendly
Frequently asked questions
How long do I need to hold employee documents for?
There will be some employee documents that you will need to keep for longer than others, and some that you will need to keep for a specified time under legislation (e.g. health and safety and payroll records). You will find a sample Data Retention Policy on the Templates page that includes recommended timeframes for different types of employee documents.
What is continuity of employment and why is it important?
Continuity of employment is the length of time an employee has been working for the same employer. Continuity of employment will also transfer when an employee transfers under TUPE. Continuity will be broken when there is a break in the employment of at least one week (including two Sundays), however it is not broken in periods of leave such as holiday, sickness absence, maternity etc.
Continuity of employment is important as it affects what employment rights and entitlements. For example, what length of notice either party needs to give to end employment, whether they are entitled to statutory payments and if so, how much (e.g. maternity pay, redundancy pay etc). Furthermore, an employee with less than 2 years' continuous service will generally not be able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal (there are exceptions to this rule), and therefore a business may have more flexibility in how they wish to address certain issues (e.g. misconduct or underperformance). Please see Employment Facts and continuity of employment for further details.
How long do I have to respond to a Subject Access Request under GDPR (data protection)?
You must respond to a Subject Access Request (SAR) within one month unless the request is complex or numerous in which case you may extend the response period by a further two months - but you need to let the data subject know within one month that you need extra time and why. You will find a sample Subject Access Request Policy and related letters on the Templates page.