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GOOD EMPLOYMENT MATTERS – creating a good workplace culture

Monday, 19 August 2024

Being a good employer will not only ensure you are lawfully meeting regulations, but it will also make the working environment better for your staff, meaning they will want to stick around. In the first of our series on mastering good empolyment, 'Good employment matters', Stephanie Bateman discusses how to ensure a good workplace while following the law.

Without staff, many of our equestrian enterprises simply wouldn’t exist, so recruiting and retaining employees is a vital component to any successful business.

Long gone are the days of casual staff paid cash in hand at the end of the day. Now, employers need to meet certain criteria when employing staff, such as ensuring the correct employment status of staff, having legally compliant written contracts, paying at least the National Minimum Living Wage and sticking to legal working hours.

This might sound a lot for an employer to grasp, but it doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, there are plenty of resources available to help employers implement the requirements. One such resource is The Equestrian Employers Association Code of Good Employment.

“The Code is designed for all types of equestrian employers and aims to guide employers to improve their employment practices and how their business runs,” advises Lucy Katan, Director of the Equestrian Employers Association. “Following the Code offers peace of mind that you’re doing everything in the right way and means that your employees have a safe and happy place to work.

“It's no secret that good workers are hard to come by, so by making your staff’s working conditions attractive and legal, you’ll not only make your recruitment process more effective, but also hopefully improve staff retention too.”

So, where should you begin when it comes to developing a good workplace? A suitable place to start is to ensure that all your staff have a written contract of employment.

Contract of employment

A written contract of employment is an agreement that sets out an employee’s employment conditions, rights, responsibilities and duties.

It is a legal requirement to provide your employee with one on or before the day they start working for you.

You can engage a solicitor to produce a version, or the EEA’s Contract Creator is an online tool that has been developed specifically for the equestrian employer. It has been written by solicitors and you can tweak the options to fit your circumstances.

The EEA in fact offers a comprehensive HR toolkit which is a useful online provision that allows you to also create staff handbooks, health and safety manuals, and a risk assessment creator. You can adapt them to suit your individual needs.

Check it out at: www.equestrianemployers.org.uk

BHS approved riding centres have access to a full HR suite of legal documents to ensure correct employment plus a legal helpline to support Centres 24/7.

What about pay?

What amount and how to pay your staff is another key consideration. All employed staff must legally be paid at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW) – get it wrong and it can be very costly to the employer.

With a few exceptions, the NMW applies to all workers of 16 years and above. The rate is reviewed every year with any changes taking place in April. From April 2024 the rate is:

• £11.44 the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
• £8.60 the 18 - 20-year-old rate
• £6.40 the Under 18-year-old rate 
• £6.40 the apprentice rate

Employers must issue itemised pay statements (payslips) which show the gross amount and any deductions and what they are for such as tax and NI contributions.

Depending on your set up, you may offer livery, accommodation and benefits in kind as part of an employee’s package – however there are strict rules on how these must be applied to ensure the hourly rate does not fall below the NMW.

For more on this, please see the Equestrian Employers Association website, which has equestrian specific advice and guidance on ensuring that you comply with the law. You can also find information on pay on www.hmrc.gov.uk or from ACAS.

If you run a riding centre and are BHS approved, you can access HR support through the BHS. Becoming a member of The Association of British Riding Schools, Livery yard and Equestrian Centres will also provide you with membership of the EEA.

Hours of work

Working with horses historically has meant that equestrian staff, particularly grooms, have worked long hours, but employers need to be clear from the start about what they expect, and to be sure that they’re not breaking the law.

As the employer you are entitled to set the days and hours of work. An employees'/workers' hours are governed by the Working Time Regulations which cover annual leave entitlement, the maximum average number of hours in a working week, the right to rest breaks during the working day and the right to rest periods between working days.

In general, workers aged 18 and over are entitled to:

• 24 hours uninterrupted rest each week, and 48 hours every fortnight
• 11 hours uninterrupted rest per day
• Take an uninterrupted 20-minute break if they work more than six hours in one stretch
• Work a maximum 48-hour average week (see information regarding ‘opting out’ below)
• Have 5.6 weeks paid annual leave per year

Workers aged 16 and 17 are entitled to:

• Take at least 30 minutes’ uninterrupted break if they work more than four-and-a-half hours in one stretch
• Work no more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week
• Have 12 hours’ rest between working days and two days off every week
• All employees and workers are covered by the regulations. Those who are genuinely self-employed are not.

When it comes to overtime, employers aren’t legally obliged to pay for working extra hours, and there are no minimum statutory levels of overtime pay, although the average pay rate must not fall below the NMW. However, as many grooms are paid at the NMW rate, it is critical to ensure that overtime is paid (or time off in lieu, known as TOIL, used).

To avoid any uncertainty, the written statement of employment should state when overtime is payable and how much will be paid.

Instead of paying for overtime, some employers offer ‘time off in lieu’. This is agreed between you and your employee, and any time taken off will normally be at a time that suits the employer.

Doing things the right way and legally doesn’t need to be stressful, time-consuming or expensive. With a little organisation, forethought and understanding of the laws, you can join the thousands of other equestrian businesses working towards ensuring a good workplace culture and one of only good employment.

Case study: Reybridge Eventing

Maggie Doel runs Reybridge Eventing and uses the EEA online tools to help her manage her employees efficiently and legally.

“We try and do it right because it is peace of mind,” said Maggie. “Having the online tools makes a huge difference and makes it so easy. It means that our staff are looked after and want to stay.”

“We have four full time staff, four workers, a few part-time staff and some self-employed contractors.  

I do their contracts online using the EEA’s online contract template and adapt it to suit us. We then sort out their hours – I have a very good package which I do all my accounts and wages through. You log hours into and it calculates wages with PAYE, pension and things like maternity pay. That keeps me on the straight and narrow for the payments.

“When it comes to hours, we do five and a half day weeks and start at 7.30am, finishing at 5pm with an hour at lunch. Most are on 45hour week contracts, whereas the students and apprentices are on 40hour week so they take two hours at lunch. Those who have their own horses with us will often ride in their lunch break.

Our self-employed contractors send us an invoice for the hours they have done, and we pay them. They choose their hours and days they work, and each are running their own freelance businesses.

“We usually require at least one new member of staff every year, but we try and make that a student so that there is always a cycle of progression and the student from last year will move up allowing for a new student to come in.”