RSM Bentley Jennison teams up with Cleardocs to launch 4staffhandbooks

May 19th 2009 – Employment Tribunal cases have increased by almost 50% in the last three years - and small to medium businesses face potential difficulties if they don’t pay enough attention to employee and workplace regulations.

Business service advisers RSM Bentley Jennison have reacted to this and have worked with Cleardocs, www.cleardocs.co.uk to create 4staffhandbooks, www.4staffhandbooks.co.uk which provides:

• a plain English staff handbook detailing all the employment policies and procedures an employer is required to implement, combined with
• a simple testing tool to ensure staff understand the guidelines — and to prove that fact to the tribunal if needed.
  

Cleardocs founder and Chairman, Christopher Balmford commented “unlike large businesses that can afford to employ dedicated HR managers, most small business owners have to try to manage staff relations themselves, in addition to the day to day running and financial control of the business. The 4staffhandbooks tool uses HR best practice policies to equip small employers with high-level staff guidelines that are aligned with ACAS’ recommendations.”

RSM Bentley Jennison is one of the UK’s fastest growing professional services firms, with leadership in the provision of risk management and business advisory services to owner managed businesses, corporates and the public sector.  4staffhandbooks has been developed as part of its range of computer based awareness training programs and is a system to ensure staff are aware of, and understand, their employer’s policies. The software tool delivers the online staff handbook and employees can be asked to undertake a short test on a regular basis. This tool helps an organisation monitor its employees’ understanding of procedures and policies and can help prove to a tribunal that the employer was active in communicating its policies to employees to ensure all employees were fully aware and knew how to comply with the policies, guidelines and procedures.

“Tribunal costs can be material and cause real problems for a business, especially during the current tumultuous times.  4staffhandbooks gives businesses confirmation that all policies, procedures and legislative changes have been fully communicated.  The full reporting and tracking facilities available through the software, give a business real assurance that they are effectively managing their vicarious liabilities” added Adrian Woodcock, Director, RSM Bentley Jennison.

Naturally, as with the Cleardocs Staff Handbook, the documents provided by 4staffhandbooks are updated with every change in legislation - along with recommendations for staff to review the amended guidelines and complete the new test.  These updates and changes are provided by Ashfords, the law firm that Cleardocs uses for all of its documents.

“The most exciting aspect of this product is the fact that small and medium size businesses now have access to the most sophisticated HR management tools previously only affordable for major organisations. Instead of worrying about unfair dismissal claims and legal action, business owners can focus on creating a more proactive, positive work environment to capitalise on their most valuable resource – their staff,” Mr. Woodcock concluded.

For more information visit www.cleardocs.co.uk or call Frances Critchlow on 0845 474 0372.

Ends

About Cleardocs
Cleardocs was launched in Australia in June 2003 by plain English expert and former lawyer Christopher Balmford. Its unique document creation technology provides customers, including small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), law and accountancy firms and recruitment agencies, with a cost-effective online resource for employment legal documents and support.

Following its success in Australia (where it is now used by more than 12,000 professionals accountants, financial planners and lawyers) the company has launched in the UK with a range of legal employment products.

Uniquely, Cleardocs provides a free helpline for employers with questions about the online document creation facility — the leading UK law firm, Ashfords solicitors provides the free legal helpline. This feature makes Cleardocs the only service of its kind in the UK. 

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