Employer Resources
Policy and Procedure Manuals
Policy and Procedure manuals are Human Resource based and designed so your staff are effectively informed of expectations with regards to the operations of the business. Generally a policy and procedure manual will be broken into two parts:
The first will address HR Policy including:
- Workplace agreements or awards/contracts of employment
- Organisational charts
- Pay periods
- Grievance procedures
- Workplace health and safety policy
- Anti Discrimination Policy, Sexual Harassment Policy etc
- Application for annual leave/ notification of absence due to sickness etc
The second section of your manual will typically address issues such as:
- Business policy including the use of phones, office equipment, company vehicles and machinery
- Email & internet policy
- Petty cash policy
- Emergency evacuation procedure
- After hours access to premises
- Machine fault reporting/maintenance/etc
This is a broad based outline and obviously will be determined greatly by the type of business you are conducting. The important thing to realise is that by having such policy and procedure in place and by keeping it updated, you are ensuring that your expectations and rules and regulations (as such) are effectively communicated to your employees and in the event of conflict, the lack of such communication of policy can not be used as an excuse for poor performance or failure to follow procedure. These manuals should be located in an area easily accessible to employees and new employees should be given the time to review them on commencement of the position. All employees should be notified of updates or changes to the manuals and given the opportunity to make themselves familiar with these.
Policy and Procedure Manuals do not take vast quantities of time to maintain but prove themselves invaluable in the effective operations of the business and resolution of conflicts in all businesses.
