Have you issued all your employees with either a written statement of terms and conditions of employment or a contract of employment?

Do you have in place both a disciplinary and a grievance procedure?

Are your statements of particulars of employment/contracts of employment supported by either an up-to-date staff handbook or a full set of policies? For example, do you have handbook provisions or policies to cover the following areas (as applicable):

• Equal opportunities
• Harassment
• Computer and telephone use
• Sickness absence
• Alcohol and drugs
• Smoking
• Parental leave and family emergencies
• Dress
• Data protection
• Company cars
• Health and safety
• Redundancy

Do you have 24 hour access to legal advice when faced with an employment problem? For example, when you need to discipline an employee for misconduct or poor performance or you need to institute a redundancy programme.

Would you know where to turn for assistance if an employee requested that his trade union representative accompany him to a disciplinary hearing?

Do you know exactly what changes have taken place in employment law over the last 12 months and what changes are scheduled for the next 12 months?