Three answers, not one
Most published lists of “HR policies every business needs” are opinion dressed as law: a flat list with no section numbers and no size triggers. The honest position is that the obligations fall into three tiers, and knowing which tier something sits in tells you what happens if you skip it.
Required by law means a statute or regulation says “must” and the failure carries a compliance order, a fine or a criminal offence. Effectively required means no statute prescribes the document, but a Code of Good Practice or a judgment makes it the only practical way to defend a claim — you can run without it, right up until someone refers a dispute. Recommended means the underlying rule is often mandatory while the document is simply how you show that you meet it.
Figures last reviewed 9 September 2026.
What starts immediately
From the first employee — including a household with one domestic worker who works 24 hours a month or more — the following all apply: written particulars of employment, at least the national minimum wage, payslips, registration with SARS, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund, the summary of the Employment Equity Act displayed where staff can read it, the duty to eliminate unfair discrimination, an internal procedure for receiving disclosures about improprieties, an information officer registered with the Information Regulator, a PAIA manual, a safe working environment and the smoking rules.
Two of those catch owners out most often. The whistleblowing procedure is a duty on every employer, and it extends to contractors and consultants:
Every employer must— (i) authorise appropriate internal procedures for receiving and dealing with information about improprieties; and (ii) take reasonable steps to bring the internal procedures to the attention of every employee and worker.
And the Employment Equity Act display duty is not limited to designated employers:
An employer must display at the workplace where it can be read by employees a notice in the prescribed form, informing them about the provisions of this Act
The harassment policy and the disciplinary code sit in the second tier, and both are worth having on day one. The Code of Good Practice on harassment ties the policy directly to the employer’s statutory defence, and the 2025 Dismissal Code expects rules that are clear and available — while expressly allowing a smaller employer to keep the process informal.
The form and content of disciplinary rules and procedures may vary according to the size and nature of the employer’s business. Smaller employers may adopt a less formal approach to discipline.
Note — Quoted from the scanned Gazette; the wording was checked against the Gazette page itself on 9 September 2026.
What starts later
Only a handful of obligations actually wait for you to grow. At five employees the BCEA adds three of the sixteen written particulars, the rights statement on the wall, the wages and attendance registers, and the payslip rule — and the OHS Act requires a copy of the Act to be available at the workplace.
Sections 29(1)(n), (o) and (p), 30, 31 and 33 do not apply to— (a) an employer who employs fewer than five employees;
Above five you need a first-aid box; above ten, a certified first-aider for every group of up to a hundred, and the fixed-term rules in section 198B begin to bind you; above 20, health and safety representatives designated in writing within four months, and a committee once there are two of them. At 50 you become a designated employer: consultation, a workforce analysis, an employment equity plan aligned to the sectoral targets, an annual online report and an income-differential statement, with fines starting at the greater of R1,5 million or 2% of turnover. Above 50, the large-scale retrenchment procedure applies once the sliding-scale numbers are reached.
Payroll and activity triggers ignore headcount entirely: the skills development levy above R500 000 of annual payroll, an employment equity compliance certificate or declaration if you tender to the state, bargaining council registration in a covered sector, and registration as a private employment agency if you supply staff to clients for reward.
What is not required
to prepare a written policy concerning the protection of the health and safety of his employees at work
Similarly, the Tobacco Products Control Act requires the conduct and the signage, not a written smoking policy. And no statute requires employees to sign a policy: a rule binds when it is lawfully issued, reasonable, communicated in a way employees can understand, and applied consistently. Collecting an acknowledgement is simply the cheapest proof of communication.
For the full explanation of each item, with the wording behind it, read the minimum policies every business must have; for the registration timeline and deadlines, see registrations and returns.
A first set of contracts and policies together is usually cheaper as a package — see the Employment and HR Starter.
Questions about the register
More than most owners expect applies from the first employee. What starts later is a shorter list than people assume: the BCEA displays, registers and payslip rules at five employees, safety representatives above twenty, an employment equity plan at fifty.
No statute demands the document, but a Code or a judgment makes it the only practical way to defend a claim. The harassment policy is the clearest case: the Employment Equity Act makes an employer liable for an employee’s harassment unless it did all that was reasonably practicable, and the Code says adopting and communicating a policy counts towards that.
Signature is not what makes a policy binding — lawful issue, a reasonable rule, communication and consistent application are. A signed acknowledgement is just the easiest proof that the communication happened.
No. It covers the obligations that turn on size, payroll, sector and the kinds of people you engage. A bargaining council agreement, a sectoral determination or the specific hazards of your workplace add more.