The first, and least troublesome is the seasonal shedding of staff as business slows after the busy summer season, and the second has been an alarming number of calls from folk who have employed people they now wish they hadn’t.

To ease the first problem, a simple solution is to hire staff for the summer on a fixed term employment agreement, with the reason for the fixed term being seasonal business fluctuations. This works well if you can reasonably anticipate when business will pick up, and when it will drop off. We have an ‘individual terms’ section for our standard employment agreement that provides the appropriate wording.

If the drop-off is unexpected, and you need to restructure, or if you need to restructure for any other reason, there is a process that you need to go through in order to meet the fairness and reasonableness tests required by modern employment law.

These steps are:

1. When you decide you need to change your staffing, call the affected staff to a meeting and present your plan as a proposal that will achieve the result you need to achieve. Explain the reasons you need to restructure.

   
   

2. Invite the affected parties’ input and give them reasonable time to consider the proposals and to respond. Set a date for a meeting to hear their counter proposals or suggestions.

   
   

3. Be prepared to discuss the affected staffs’ suggestions and undertake to consider them in arriving at a final decision. Set another time at which you will give your decision.

   
   

4. Announce your decision and ensure that staff are given reasonable notice of the timing of the change. The notice cannot be less than the notice period set in individual employment agreements, and for long serving staff a longer period would be more appropriate – even if they end their term performing slightly different roles. In all cases you should give as much notice as is practicable.

The second situation is one that everyone who has employed people has been in at least once (unless they are new to it), and can be solved by going through the painful and sometimes lengthy disciplinary process required these days, but it is a situation that can be avoided if the recruitment process is robust and thorough.

Much of what we are seeing at the moment is the result of desperate employers hiring in a hurry.

The last time an employer is in total control of an employment relationship is the second before they offer the role to the successful applicant. Treasure that moment and make good use of the time between the application arriving and the job being offered.

1. Get hold of the Restaurant Association Application For Employment form and guide.

   
   

2. Follow the guide scrupulously – no shortcuts, because time spent at this stage can save you lots of time and pain later.

   
   

3. Carefully review the applicant’s responses to the questions in the application form – question relevant blanks and gaps in employment history.

   
   

4. Do phone the given referees. Listen carefully to what they say, and be alert for the things they don’t say.

   
   

5. If you have any misgivings, don’t hire until you are certain.

The Association’s employment application form carries a declaration which the applicant signs, agreeing that the employer may terminate the employment if any information given by the employee on the form is incorrect, so there is an escape route if it’s needed, but nothing beats careful interviewing and reference checking.