When you start a new business, there’s a lot you need to think about in terms of team management, market research, customer nurturing, and marketing.
One area of business management that often gets overlooked is a comprehensive HR strategy and approach to employment law. With one or two employees, this aspect may seem relatively easy to navigate – but as your start-up grows, it only becomes more and more complicated.
Understanding an Employment Lawyer’s Services
The role of an employment lawyer is to represent you and act in the best interests of the employer.
This empowers an employment lawyer to represent you during negotiations and legal proceedings, draft documents, provide training, and facilitate discussions between employees – always protecting the business’s integrity and reputation.
Services are available on an ad hoc basis to prevent businesses from paying for services that they may not need or use – and can also be packaged up as preferred.
The Benefits of an Annual Retainer Strategy
The beauty of a third-party employment lawyer is that the more time they spend working with your business, the better they know both your vision and values, and your team. It’s for this reason that more and more businesses of all sizes are opting for an annual retainer package, that sees them pay a set annual fee and benefit for unlimited access to legal services throughout that year.
And with such a wide and diverse range of services, from everyday document drafting and contract proofing and support with employee issues, to assistance with redundancy consultations and business acquisitions, there’s always something that you’ll find for an employment lawyer to do – thereby maximising your investment.
For a start-up, an annual retainer is an especially good idea as it ensures that there is always support with from a legal expert – with no hidden costs. The lawyer can ensure that every decision made in the early days has the business’s best interests in mind, helping to future-proof and safeguard the business against potential employment issues.
How to Approach Employment Law as a Start-Up
If the cost of a third-party employment lawyer is putting you off getting in touch, then there are ways of benefitting from their services without paying annual fees. These include accessing one-off training for your own in-house team or only paying for the services you need via the ad hoc legal support offered as standard.
However, as a start-up, we advise you to take employment law seriously – even before you start hiring in big numbers. The decisions you make early on in your business can make or break your ability to grow and attract new candidates and team members as time goes on. For more information and tailored advice, get in touch with your local legal team today.