Importance of HR Policy Writing for your Small Business

Many people in the workforce may think about policy writing for the Human Resources Department of any business as “Ho-Hum” or “Yawn-producing Boring,” or even worse as a great waste of paper. Whatever your opinion is about HR handbooks and policies, those policies are there with a purpose – to protect employers and employees alike.  Human resource policies are the formal rules and guidelines that businesses put in place to hire, train, assess, and reward the members of their workforce. These policies, when organized and disseminated in an easily used form, can serve to preempt many misunderstandings between employees and employers about their rights and obligations in the business place. (Source: Inc Online)

Some of the main topics that should be covered in these policies will be:

• Equal Employment Opportunity policies
• Employee classifications
• Workdays, paydays, and pay advances
• Overtime compensation
• Meal periods and break periods
• Payroll deductions
• Vacation policies
• Holidays
• Sick days and personal leave (for bereavement, jury duty, voting, etc.)
• Performance evaluations and salary increases
• Performance improvement
• Termination policies

This may not sound like the most interesting read, but employers and employees alike find that there are many benefits to having policies in writing. Communication with employees and managers can improve dramatically with the right resources available through human resources policies. It can also save time with the ability to focus on work activities rather than HR issues.  Finally, written policies can be a huge  asset when trying to curb litigation. Members of the legal and business communities agree that organizations can do a lot to cut off legal threats from disgruntled current or ex-employees simply by creating—and applying—a fair and comprehensive set of personnel policies. When there is a written resource that clearly and completely outlines what your company stands for whether it is regarding hiring, firing or in-office behavior, there will be a major savings when it comes to time, energy and ultimately the bottom line.

Categorised in: Blog, Small Business