Pitfalls and Risks of Out of Date Employment Contracts
Recognising the complexities and subtleties of employment law and staff contracts, Leighton Walker the General Manager of Burford Golf Club got in touch with Carolyne Wahlen and Golf HR.
“Without being overly dramatic, we need HR support because of the overwhelming nature of the job. There’s a lot involved for me to try to do knowing that we’re covering all the angles with regards to employment law. It’s daunting really.”
Once engaged, Golf HR’s first job was to look at the club’s existing employee contracts.
“Obviously we had contracts for all our staff but perhaps they weren’t fully up-to-date with the current legislation. That was the main objective but also alongside that was updating the staff handbook which goes into a lot more detail.”
Golf HR has also helped the club with a couple of ad-hoc HR issues.
“We needed a bit of help with the recruitment of our professional last year. While the PGA did the bulk of the work I did need to refer a couple of things to Golf HR just to make sure that from our point of view we were covered. Currently, we’re looking at putting a training agreement in place so that if any staff leave us within a set time period following training they owe some money back to the club.”
Having Golf HR at the other end of the phone and email is making life a lot easier for Leighton and Burford Golf Club.
“It’s largely about peace of mind. It’s the simplicity of everything to know now that when we have a new member of staff we send over about ten pieces of information and back comes a staff contract to get the person to agree and sign. The staff handbook is there and so we’re covered in every way. It’s made things a lot easier for us.
“What’s more Golf HR are always very prompt and get straight back to us and we’re always confident that this level of support is going to be there.”
Leighton Walker
Club Manager, Burford Golf Club