KENNELS AND CONTRACTS

Trevor Turner, B. Vet. Med., MRCVS

STAFF CRISIS

Usually a pretty distraught kennel owner or manager suddenly realises that there is staff discontent and a crisis brewing. It is my experience that these disputes usually involve temporary or part-time help hired for the busy period of the school holidays who suddenly find they want to go away themselves or do not really want to work a five-day week despite the fact that was the very reason they were hired only two or three weeks before! My question is always the same: What does it state in the contract? What contract? You know, the Terms of Employment. It is then that I realise that employees’ contracts, particularly for casual kennel staff, are still something of a rarity although the statutory requirement has now been in place for over a decade.

 

STATUTORY REQUIREMENT

As I understand it, written Terms of Employment must be supplied to any new employee within eight weeks of commencing the job. That is the statutory requirement.

I have discussed this subject with many kennels over the last few months and get the impression that although most kennels employing staff conform in the case of permanent, full-time or senior staff, few define their terms of employment in the case of part-time or temporary staff. This is particularly so in the case of school children or students employed to help during the school holidays. This is when the kennels are at their busiest and when it is essential that every pair of hands knows precisely what is expected. It is the last time you need a staff problem!

JOBCENTRE HELP

PROBLEMS OF TEMPORARY STAFF

The owner had hired two Economics students at the end of June to work as inexperienced kennel help till the end of September. Out of season she ran the kennels herself with her sister and part-time help. Everything went fine until mid-July when the boarding season began in earnest. Then one Wednesday one of the students suddenly remembered that she was due to see her grandmother in West Wales that weekend. She asked very politely if she could have the Thursday and Friday off and promised to return to work first thing on Monday morning. Monday came and went and so did the rest of the week! She turned up the following Monday explaining that she had been so exhausted when she got to Wales that she had to “rest” for a few days. I was told by the kennel owner that she “gently remonstrated”. As a result the employee walked out, followed shortly afterwards by her fellow student “in sympathy”!

Would a contract or written terms of employment have averted the situation? It might have done if sufficiently comprehensive.

In law you should issue terms and conditions to all members of staff irrespective of whether full time, part time or temporary. Moreover it should be given to the new employee within eight weeks of commencing work.

In forty years of running a busy veterinary practice, plus a large boarding kennels, I became totally convinced of the value of the contract. Not only did I conform with the law and provide it within eight weeks, but gradually the custom evolved where the contract was organised earlier and earlier so that ultimately it would be sent with the offer of employment.

During its evolution the contract itself grew a bit like’Topsy’ and although the early days of computerisation, both in the practice and at the kennels, was little short of a nightmare, one good thing was that the personal PC stored succeeding editions of the ever-expanding Terms and Conditions. In the days of individually typing out contracts for staff I must admit it would tend to get left as long as possible since in a busy boarding kennels it was quite a formidable task. It was also a total waste of time if, despite all the careful screening processes of interview, they finally decided after a short time that the job was not for them. With key staff, a day in the kennels for familiarisation and acclimatisation before any decision was made on either side, was routine but right up until the time I sold the kennels I still had staff that we had carefully selected, thought were great, but decided that they had made a mistake for whatever reason. I have to say that these instances became rarer and rarer as our contracts became more and more comprehensive.

STAFF CONTRACTS

Discussing staff contracts with colleagues I find it is relatively commonplace today to issue a contract at the start of employment. I certainly did this for many years. However, after one or two misunderstandings regarding hours worked, weekends, use of vehicles etc, two copies of the terms and conditions discussed and agreed at interview would be sent together with the formal written offer of the job even if, as usually happened, I had made a telephone call offering the job which had been accepted. I also always enclosed an informal note apologising for the formality of the contract. I explained the reasons and asked the prospective employee to read through it carefully. If they were happy with it they should sign one copy and return it me. If they were unhappy about any of the contents it would be discussed and hopefully resolved. In fact it was as a result of such feedback that our contracts gradually evolved.

I always had a copy of the contract before me during the formal part of the interview solely as an aide memoire and that is why I put absolutely everything into it. Obviously there are certain items which should be stated right at the beginning in respect of employment.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

These include:

1. Starting date.

This would be discussed with the person at interview and a date agreed.

Once selection had been made we would telephone and offer the job explaining that a formal offer of employment together with the contract would be in the post. At that time I confirmed the previously agreed starting date and also any other slightly unusual requests that had been agreed such as bringing three rabbits and a guinea pig as occurred on one occasion. I found that my ability to accede to these more unusual requests was directly proportional to my perceived urgency of need to fill the vacancy!

There you go! Despite all my experience and hopefully built-in safeguards I still had the occasional West Wales Grandmother Syndrome!

2. Starting salary

This should be stated together with how it is to be paid, i.e. cash, cheque, into a bank account. etc. Also do not forget the frequency. Is it paid weekly, monthly etc? This should be discussed during interview and the policy of the business explained. With regard to paying wages, from experience it really is a pain if you normally pay cash and someone wants a cheque or vice versa.

3. Salary Review

This should be discussed and the terms then stated in the contract. I preferred to agree a starting salary which, after an initial trial period, would be reviewed. This again would be discussed at interview and often put into place even with very temporary holiday help.

This would give you a chance to assess the employee even if the initial trial period was only a few days. There is also a feeling of being appreciated when there is a pay rise pretty soon after being employed! On a more serious note I always consider it a failing on the part of the employer if employees have to ask when their salary is going to be reviewed. Therefore I always stated it in the contract. That does not mean that every review results in an increase!

How often should salaries be reviewed? I consider that permanent staff should have an annual review, possibly at the same time as reviewing prices. If prices do not rise well there is your guide for salaries.
Employees doing courses and taking exams, e.g. NVQs etc, always had a clause inserted about Salary review after results, etc.

4. Holiday Entitlement

Originally my contracts discussed solely salaries, methods of payment and review periods but very soon holiday entitlement and any restrictions soon came into what in those days was virtually a voluntary contract.

It is my experience that more problems arise with kennel staff over holiday entitlement and restrictions imposed than anything else. I point out very clearly exactly the holiday entitlement and precise restrictions, i.e. no holidays in the peak boarding period except under very special circumstances etc. I then spell it all out in the contract and hope!

5. Pilfering

As our business became larger and more staff were employed petty pilfering at times became apparent. It was usually food and cat litter rather than money but I found it does no harm to spell the action you would take in such circumstances.

6. Other matters

This section can cover areas such as boarding terms for employees’ animals, use of vehicles, parking of own vehicles, etc. In fact you tell me! jayantees@giomail.co.uk

I look forward to your comments, good or bad!