What are the information and resources you need to regulate and implement HR-Policy in your organization ?

This section gives practical information to organizations on how to develop HR policies and procedures. The guide is designed for small nonprofits. It will be useful to those who are just beginning to develop policies and those who are reviewing and updating existing policies. Tools you will find in this section include a Policy Template, a Guide to Developing an Employee Handbook, and a template Statement of Understanding.

Policies serve several important functions:

• Communicate values and expectations for how things are done at your organization
• Keep the organization in compliance with legislation and provide protection against employment claims
• Document and implement best practices appropriate to the organization
• Support consistent treatment of staff, fairness and transparency
• Help management to make decisions that are consistent, uniform and predictable
• Protect individuals and the organization from the pressures of expediency

A policy is a formal statement of a principle or rule that members of an organization must follow. Each policy addresses an issue important to the organization's mission or operations.

A procedure tells members of the organization how to carry out or implement a policy. Policy is the "what" and the procedure is the "how to".

Policies are written as statements or rules. Procedures are written as instructions, in logical steps.

Your workplace is unique and therefore you may need to develop policies very specific to your organization and type of work, for which there are no templates or benchmarks. Typically, policy development will follow the following steps:

• Step1: Establish need for a policy
• Step2: Develop policy content
• Step3: Draft the policy
• Step4: Write the procedure
• Step5: Review of the policy by key parties
• Step6: Approve the policy
• Step7: Implement the policy
• Step8: Policy review and update
• Step9: Communication of changes to the policy

Ways to implement and communicate about policies

Employees, managers and key stakeholder must have access to up-to-date copies of the policies and procedures that are relevant to their role in the organization and be advised of and understand any new policies or changes to policies coming into effect.

When selecting methods to communicate policies consider:

• Will employees be able to easily access electronic copies or will they need hard copies?
• What concerns and issues are likely to be raised about the policy and how will they be dealt with? If concerns are likely to be significant an initial face to face communication through an information session or manager communication will be a more effective approach than an email.
• Does the policy provide enough information for managers and staff to be able to effectively implement and comply with the policy or will they need training or additional information?

The methods below are often used in combination to develop a strategy to ensure employees are aware of, understand and have the skills to implement and comply with the policies that underpin how they work.

Employee handbooks

An employee handbook describes the organization's policies and procedures. The handbook may also contain general information about the organization such as its priorities, the organization chart, the job classifications, whether positions are covered by a collective agreement and bargaining status for all groups of employees. You may have separate handbooks for managers and staff or you may have one handbook that applies to both groups. For the employer, the handbook can form part of the documentation that your staff were made aware of the organization’s rules and standards and understand the consequences of not complying with the policies. Of course, this is dependent on your employees having received and understood the policies contained within the handbook so it is often a good idea to ask employees to sign a statement confirming this. Benefits of having an employee handbook include:

• A comprehensive source for understanding the practices of the organization
• Useful for orienting employees
• Employees can independently find answers to their questions, supporting confidentiality
• Saves management time spent on clarifying expectations
• Helps others quickly understand your workplace practices
• Supports communication and accountability
• Allows you to tie in the broader context, such as the organization’s vision, objectives and values

A few points of caution:

• For the handbook to serve as valid documentation, it must be updated as policies are updated and changed. For this reason it is often a good idea to designate someone with this responsibility.
• Often a handbook will be written in a less formal style and include only summaries of each policy. In order to be able to rely on the handbook for documentation that your employees were made aware of the organization’s policies, it needs to include all the key points of the policy and reference where staff can access the full versions of the policies.

Since the policies and procedures and content of the handbook may change from time to time, include a statement that the employer has the right, in its sole discretion, to add, amend, or delete any policy or procedure it its handbook.