By Sarah McWhinney and Becky Jobling, Lewis Silkin LLP
A secondment is an arrangement whereby an employee is temporarily assigned to work for a different part of their employer’s organisation, a different employer within the group, or a separate employer, such as a client or customer.
This “how to” guide sets out the factors that employers need to consider in advance of setting up a domestic secondment arrangement.
In this guide, learn about:
- Why arrange a secondment?
- Selecting secondees
- Dealing with a reluctant secondee
- Secondment agreement
- Who is the employer?
- Duration of the secondment
- Maintaining contact
- Paying secondees
- Salary
- Bonuses
- Benefits
- Expenses
- Risk assessments
- Compliance with host’s instructions and policies
- Conflicting interests and work demands
- Appraisals, discipline and grievances
- Annual leave
- Sickness absence
- Pregnancy and family leave
- Protecting intellectual property
- Confidential information
- Terminating secondments
- Termination by secondee
- Accommodating the secondee’s return
- Handover
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About the authors
Sarah McWhinney, Associate at Lewis Silkin LLP
Sarah McWhinney is an associate in the employment reward and immigration team at Lewis Silkin. She joined the team in 2013, having trained with the firm, and she advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters.
Sarah works in tribunal litigation in a variety of areas including discrimination, unfair dismissal and jurisdiction. She negotiates settlement agreements and advises on grievances and disciplinary issues.
Sarah works for clients across a range of sectors, including construction, professional services and education.
Becky Jobling, Senior Associate at Lewis Silkin LLP
Becky Jobling is a senior associate in the employment reward and immigration team at Lewis Silkin. She has been part of the team since qualifying in 2007.
Becky advises employers across a variety of industries, including retail, hospitality, broadcast media, energy and professional services. She advises on a full range of employment issues, from pre-employment checks to redundancy processes. Her specialist interest is employment issues around disability and ill health and she regularly advises on this. She also works with international colleagues, coordinating multi-jurisdictional projects and obtaining advice for UK clients in relation to their overseas offices.