HR Policies & Plans

What are HR Policies & Plans?

A comprehensive HR policy and procedure manual or employee handbook should cover all aspects of the business relevant to employee behavior.

It should be:

• Up to date
• Comprehensive
• Unambiguous
• Easily locatable by employees.

Why are HR Policies & Plans important for business today?

A comprehensive HR policy and procedure manual provides the following benefits to your business::

• Helps employees understand how the business operates internally
• Provides a clear guide to managers and workers on how to behave
• Allows clear standards to be set in terms of performance expectations
• Provides a framework for employees to make low level decisions in routine situations without the need for escalation to senior managers
• Allows you to outline a method of dealing with complaints and misunderstandings and this helps avoid perceptions of favoritism
• Reduces legal risks to the business of unlawful practice or behavior on the part of employees by providing tangible evidence that your organization has taken reasonable steps to reduce such behaviour.

Why are HR Policies & Plans important for an event tomorrow?

An employee manual is useful to investors in a transaction as it provides:

• An insight into the culture of the company as it reveals the expectations, standards and responsibilities for employees
• An Insight into the approach by the management team to employee management and administration
• The policies and procedures regarding employee expenses also form part of the overall approach to cost control already in place at the company, thereby helping inform the bidder of what changes may be needed to be made in the future
• For situations where the acquired company will be combined with another organization post the transaction, it is important to see where there may be significant differences in the internal policies and procedures of the organization as this will need to be factored into any post merger integration plan.

Pros of addressing HR Policies & Plans

• Easy reference for employees
• Clear guidance on performance standards
• Reduces the need for decision escalation
• Improves employee trust in complaint handling
• Reduces risk to the business of unlawful activity by staff.

Cons of not addressing this topic

• Slower integration of new employees into the business
• Confusion amongst employees on what to do in unusual circumstances
• Lower employee confidence that complaints will be heard and addressed
• Increased risk of unlawful employee behaviour.