Managing employment relationships in home environments

The employment relationship can be complex to navigate, particularly if you’ve become an employer by virtue of circumstance – for example, if you’re employing care workers to look after a family member. Dealing with employees can be daunting – even more so when the employee’s contractual workplace is your family home.  

Here are some pointers to help deputies navigate and manage this relationship and their duties as an employer. 

Understanding the employment contract

A good place to start is the contract of employment – the legally binding document between employee and employer. The contract sets out the express terms on which you engage an employee, in line with UK employment law.  

Express terms normally cover areas such as a probationary review period, regularity of appraisals, rates of pay, and general rules, among others. As some of these express terms are based on statute and may be subject to change, it’s your duty as an employer to regularly review and update the contract, ensuring the contractual terms are fit for purpose and observe up to date legislation.  

In addition to express terms, although not defined in the contract, further obligations can arise through implied terms, which tend to take shape over the lifetime of an employment relationship. These can quite often set a precedent for all employees, in turn becoming a matter of custom and practice. In other words, if you don’t set out clear boundaries and rules for your employees at the start of your relationship, you could unknowingly create a working environment that isn’t right for you.  

In my experience this is often the most common area in which issues arise, particularly for more unconventional working environments like someone’s home. Being clear about the boundaries of the workplace within your home is key, especially when it comes to maintaining your personal space and privacy.  

For example, if you have staff providing 24/7 care, are there rules regarding when they can interrupt you in the evening, and for what reasons? While you’ll probably want to be notified of an emergency at any hour, you may not want to discuss things like annual leave at certain times of the evening.  

This indicates the sort of matters that, if not discussed, can easily become a bigger issue for one or both parties. Dealing with these employment matters in your personal space can sometimes feel more challenging, so some deputies prefer to seek impartial input from another party.  

As implied terms are key to mapping out how the workplace will look, particularly for carers in direct employment, you may want to set them out in writing in a bespoke policy or ‘handbook’. While not contractual, these documents can help ensure all parties are aware of and understand the implied terms of employment by providing clear guidance in terms of the working environment.  

The importance of supervision

Providing basic supervisory input – which is separate from clinical supervision – is also key to good employee relations. This means making sure employees understand their role, have the necessary tools to do their job effectively, and receive support if they need it.  

The importance of regular supervisory conversations is often underestimated in terms of staff retention, positive engagement, and productivity. Supervision can help you spot and troubleshoot underlying issues in advance, rather than ‘firefighting’ as they occur, and prevent escalation of smaller issues, including those that could be a risk in terms of employers’ liability insurance (ELI).  

In fact, supervision is a key tool to help maintain the terms of ELI, which should include:

— Keeping up to date with contractual changes and ensuring a contract complies with the obligations and regulations of the relevant authorities

— Taking reasonable care to provide supervision to all staff

— Remaining aware of any issues within your team and taking proportionate steps to remedy them

— Always acting in line with good practice, following due process to maintain the trust and confidence of the employee

— Ensuring that rates of pay are in line with the statutory minimum.

Key takeaways for deputies

The legislation and guidance on good practice for employment relationships are continually changing. Staying up to date is key to ensuring you remain compliant as an employer, and attractive to current staff and prospective candidates. And like any insurance, adhering to the terms of your ELI is vital to obtaining cover should you ever need it.  

It’s a bit like taking out home insurance: the terms of your insurance are likely to include locking your doors and setting the alarm. So would you leave out these simple steps in the hope that you wouldn’t need to rely on making a claim?

Given the complexities involved, many deputies prefer to delegate some – or all – of the risk management associated with employing staff. Just as you would instruct a case manager for their expertise in health and welfare matters, a suitably experienced specialist team of HR professionals can help navigate the employment relationship whilst focusing on ’person centred’ provision.  This should be balanced and determined by the client – and always applied flexibly to work alongside what is already in place.  

If you have any queries relating to this article, please contact Lucy Law at Hugh Jones – Lucy Law | Hugh Jones Solicitors.