What is meant by the Secondment of an Employee?

Secondment of an employee

What is meant by the term secondment?

The term secondment covers the situation whereby an employee or a group of employees is assigned on a temporary basis to work for another organisation or a different part of the organisation of their current employer.

What are the main reasons why a secondment situation may occur?

There are many reasons why it may be considered a desirable position for a secondment to occur such as the following:

The career development of that particular individual
The chance for that individual to gain some new skills or gain some experience
Providing staff with the chance to work on short term projects
Providing potential cover for short term absences
Avoiding redundancies
Enabling the employee to remain with the original employer and so preserving specific benefits such as pension schemes

Can a secondment be internal as well as external?

It is possible for an employee who works in a large organisation to be seconded to another section of that organisation. If this is to be the case the secondment can be done on a much more informal basis whereby it is unlikely that a fully detailed secondment agreement will need to be put in place. The only real issues which will have to be defined in relation to an internal secondment will be the duties of the employee on the secondment, their manager and their place of work.

If the secondment is an external secondment then certain legal issues will become immediately apparent which will need to be provided in a fully detailed secondment agreement.

When an employee is involved in an external secondment who will be the employer?

The main idea behind a secondment arrangement is that the individual who has been seconded will remain the employee of the original employer during the term of the secondment.

Following the termination of the term of the secondment what will happen to the employee?

Due to the fact that the employee will remain the employee of the original employer this means that once the term of the secondment is over that employee will return back to their original employer.

In some cases will an employee who is subject to a secondment agreement technically become an employee of the new employer?

In many cases it is likely that an employee who is subject to a secondment will technically become the employee of the new company.

Why is it important as to who is the actual employer?

The issue of who is in fact the employer is an extremely important issue especially for the company which is acting as the host of the seconded employee. This is due to the rights experienced by the normal employee / employer relationship. For example an employee will have certain rights guaranteed to them due to their status as an employee which should be provided by their employer. In a secondment situation it is therefore imperative to know who is in fact the actual employer.

Is there any way in which a company can ensure that the host employer does not become the actual employer of a seconded employee?

If the parties wish to ensure that the seconded employee does not become an employee of the host employer they should make sure that they do the following:

That the seconded employee does not owe any duties directly to the host but only to the seconder
That the host does not owe any duties to the seconded employee but only to the seconder
That the seconder retains day to day control of the seconded employee
That the seconder carries out any appraisals and disciplinary of grievance procedures

As a host of a seconded employee how do I ensure that they do not become fully integrated into my organisation?

In order for a seconded employee to remain an employee of the original employer it is important that they do not become fully integrated into the organisation of the host employer. One of the ways to do this is to ensure that on any material produced by that employer whereby they are names such as a telephone list it should always be made clear that the individual is a secondee and not a full employee.

What will happen to an employee’s continuity of employment if they are seconded to another organisation?

Many of the rights guaranteed to an employee such as the right against an unfair dismissal require a continuity of employment with that particular employer. Therefore if an employee is seconded to another organisation this will not affect their continuity of employment with their original employer as legally they will still remain employed by that employer. An employee who is being seconded to another organisation may however, want full clarification that their secondment will not affect their continuity of employment and therefore certain of their rights.

Who will pay the secondee?

During a secondment situation it is usual for the wages of the seconded employee to still be paid by their original employer.


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