The Employer's Handbook (5th edition)

Citation

Duckett, B. (2009), "The Employer's Handbook (5th edition)", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 7, pp. 541-542. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910978226

Subtitled An Essential Guide to Employment Law, Personnel Problems and Procedures, this book is the fifth edition of a work first published in 2002. That each year has seen a new edition is testimony to the popularity of the book and also the constant need to update with new legislation. This edition, for example, includes changes resulting from the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, the Work and Families Act 2006, and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006. The book has been endorsed by the Institute of Directors and, one presumes, since their logos appear on the dust jacket, ACAS, Learndirect Business, and Skills for Business. Author Barry Cushway is, among many other of his relevant qualifications, Personnel Adviser to the Institute of Directors, Executive Editor of the loose‐leaf work Essential Facts: Employment (Gee Publications), and of other Kogan Page publications.

This book covers all aspects of employment from recruiting staff, writing employment contracts, paying staff, and employee benefits, through performance management, dealing with absence, maternity and paternity rights, working hours and holidays, and on to writing a staff handbook, keeping personnel records, and data protection. Other topics are handling disciplinary issues, dealing with grievances, terminating employment, dealing with tribunal cases, health and safety, staff welfare, working with trade unions, and handling change. Since all of these topics are intrinsic parts of library management, this book will be of immediate relevance to senior librarians with a degree of responsibility for such matters. Library practitioners at an earlier stage of their career might wish to read this work to glimpse some of the legal issues that may await them as they ascend the career ladder!

This is not a legal textbook and it “is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to UK employment law, but rather to point you in the direction of the action you may need to take to deal with a variety of employment issues”. (Author's introduction) The focus of the book is on the small‐ and medium‐sized employer in the UK private sector. The author mentions that key stage in the growth of any business is when employees are appointed for the first time. This book is essentially a practical, “hands‐on” text, eschewing long chunks of prose and using instead short paragraphs, copious headings and sub‐headings, bullet points, sample letters and documents, flow diagrams and tables. In the chapter on “Personnel records and data protection” for example, the section Data Protection has separate paragraphs and headings for “Personnel file”, “Data protection principles”, “Individual right of access”, “Exemptions”, “Sensitive personal data”, “Future developments”, “Ensuring compliance with data protection principles”, “Notification”, and “Data protection policy”. The paragraphs feature bullet‐pointed lists, contact details, sources of further information and a sample data protection policy statement. “Guide” is the key term here; a guide through the maze of employment legislation. The book provides a structure and gives the basic information that any new or inexperienced employer needs. It is clearly structured for ease of use and is written in plain English. There is a Glossary, a list of Useful Addresses, and a well‐presented index. The “softer” side of human relations management is not covered.

One irritation I have with this otherwise superbly constructed and produced book is the intrusion of advertising matter. No sooner has the reader started to read the section on the “Management of Heath and Safety” on page 345 than we turn over the page to be confronted by a full‐page “Plants boost productivity” advertisement in bright green. The boxed text on the opposing page, although informative and relevant, is an unwelcome interruption between bullet point 2 and bullet point 3. Similarly, in mid‐sentence, on the subject of “How to set objectives”, the following page opposite has a bold advertisement for Train to Gain, with the phrase “What's stopping you training your staff?” blazoned across the middle. Overleaf is a double‐page spread featuring, inter alia, Jackson's Bakery and Weldon Plant Ltd, two companies which “are benefiting from Train to Gain”. Only then, three pages later, is the interrupted sentence resumed, but by now the reader has forgotten the first part! Our concentration has been broken, to be broken yet again by another multi‐coloured page advertising 2GC Active Management. I can see that the services of such organisations are relevant to the subject of the book and are a tribute to the standing of the book (and maybe even provide revenue), but they should be placed where they do not interfere with comprehension.

This book will be valuable on library shelves for employers (and employees) to use. And since I'm sure all of us experience many of these employment issues, if not all of them (!), it is worth reiterating that this guide will be a useful desk copy for staff supervisors and library managers.