Assuming your landscaping business is more than a one-person operation, it means that you will have employees that work for and with you.
As a result of that, you will be aware that there are numerous obligations and responsibilities that you have as an employer, many of which are statutory and thus mandated by legislation such as employment and health and safety laws.
Examples of these include ensuring that wherever your employees are working and whatever they are doing, they can do so in the knowledge that it will be safe.
Another is adhering to the employment agreement that you have with each employee.
You will also need to ensure that payroll matters are properly administered so that the correct taxes are deducted from your employees’ salaries.
Those are just three of the many areas in which being an employer you have to ensure that your landscaping company is compliant.
The basis upon which many of these actions occur is the documentation that a company must have and use when it has employees.
To confirm what these are, and to provide you with some guidance as to their uses if you are unsure, we have described five of the most important of these employment documents below.
Employment Document #1 – Employee Handbook
An employee handbook is one of the most useful documents you can have within your landscaping company as it benefits both the company and its employees.
It is a guide to all the company’s policies, rules, standards, and procedures, and is what ensures that there can be no doubt or ambiguity as to what they are.
A copy of your employee handbook should be given to every employee when they first join, and each should sign to confirm they have read and understood it.
Employment Document #2 – Full-Time Employment Agreement
As the name suggests, this is the formal agreement between your landscaping company and each of its full-time employees.
It sets out terms of employment, expectations, and the role and responsibilities of the employee.
It should be clear and signed by both the employee and a designated representative of the company. Examples of the terms included are set out below.
| Position | Role And Responsibilities | Hours Of Work |
| Salary | Employee Benefits | Probation Period |
| Notice Period | Sick And Annual Leave Provisions | Confidentiality, NDA Clauses |
Employment Document #3 – Contractor Agreement
Given the nature of the work you will do as a landscaping company, you are likely to employ contractors more than some businesses and so a contractor agreement will be an important document.
It specifies the relationship you have with the contractor whether it be an individual or a business.
What the contractor does for you can range from physically working on landscaping projects such as building walls, to consulting, where you might hire a specialist on drainage systems.
Examples of some of the clauses you might include in your contractor agreements are set out below.
| Agreed Fees | Timescales | Confidentiality Clauses |
| Insurance Obligations | Penalties for Non-Completion | Services To Be Provided |
| Warranties | Termination | NDA Clauses |
Employment Document #4 – Casual Employee Agreement
For scenarios where you might need someone to work for you on an ad hoc basis and not full-time, you could employ them as a casual employee.
This is where you would use the casual employee agreement.
It will contain most of the same terms and clauses that you have in a full-time employee agreement, but it would obviously state they are employed on a casual basis only, and thus do not have all the benefits that being full-time would provide them.
Employment Document #5 – Health And Safety Policy
This is a crucial document that sets out the responsibilities and obligations of the company, including its management and employees, relating to health and safety.
Its purpose is to reduce or even remove risks that could exist to the safety, health, and well-being of employees, contractors, clients, and even the general public if applicable on the site you are working at.
It will make several references to health and safety legislation and how it applies to management and employees.
