Astute recruitment businesses can use the current slow-down to get ready for the next big wave of work, taking the opportunity to review key contracts and documents, internal policies and to undertake data cleansing exercises.
We will be sharing a mini series of quick 'how to' guides to help recruitment businesses check whether your terms, policies and database practices are fit for purpose or could do with some work.
Terms and Conditions for Candidates and Contractors
The first in our 'how to' guides covers your terms and conditions for candidates and contractors.
When were your terms and conditions last reviewed? Do they take account of the newest changes to the law? Consider both compliance and best practice in the commercial terms. Think about the following examples:
- Have you got revised terms to cover the changes to IR35 for example? Are you providing your inclusion policies?
- Hopefully you updated in 2018 to incorporate the changes to the data protection regime, but did you refresh your marketing options to reflect the updates to the privacy and e-commerce regulations?
- If you recruit internationally, have you covered off the impact of Brexit and new immigration requirements?
Although not 'consumers' in the legal sense, it's wise to consider candidates as customers, as their impression of the new job starts with their interaction with your business. All the outward-facing documentation needs to reflect the brand you have carefully curated.
In our experience, legal issues that arise on terms and conditions with candidates are when the document has been drafted by several people over a number of years and has not had a holistic review from a legal professional. If you don't understand the language used in the terms, it's likely that your candidates won't either. If you can't tell within two minutes of looking at the document what the extent of the services you are supplying is, and how money is going to flow between the parties, then they need a review.
Originally published 08 August, 2020
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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