The Top 10
We’re not talking the music charts, but we’re talking about our guide to the Top 10 policies and procedures you should have in place.
First things first; it’s great to have written policies or procedures but you must make sure they’re up to date! A policy or procedure is a written example to help guide business owners, managers, and employees on all matters relating to their employment. They help create culture of transparency in business whilst ensuring all employees feel they work in a positive, fair and consistent working environment. In our opinion, they can add greatly to creating a happy, valued workforce who know how to behave and who are all working towards the same goal.
A Minefield
We often meet with new Clients who are having trouble deciding on which policies to focus. That’s led us to put this list together – and they’re in no particular order – of what we recommend as our top ten policies for any business:
- Drivers/Company Car Policy
This should provide a legal overview of the obligation from the employer to the employee of vehicle use and vice versa.
- Equal Opportunities
Equality in the workplace is extremely important and any employer worth their salt should carry a policy defining equal opportunities from recruitment to dismissal and everything in between.
- Whistleblowing
It is extremely important that your employees feel protected when they raise matters that are of legal concern such as concerns over financial fraud, or breaches of Health & Safety regulations – a Whistleblowing policy provides this.
- Disciplinary & Appeals
We touched on this above, but in brief, a Disciplinary & Appeals policy relates to the internal processes in place for the organisation to manage behaviour.
- Grievance
Your Grievance policy provides the company’s internal process relating to the management of incoming and internal complaints – they should provide the steps the organisation could take to manage behaviour and/or resolve conflict.
- Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment
Like the Grievance policy, this provides the steps that would be taken by an organisation when managing behaviour for occurrences such as sexual harassment or workplace bullying.
- GDPR
The Data Protection Act protects how companies, and their third parties, manage data from employees, clients and public information and the business processes and procedures pertaining to this data management should be detailed in your GDPR policy.
- Absence Management
We find SMEs often struggle with this one, not wishing to micro-manage staff. A robust Absence Management policy provides the legal details for employees relating to absence management, such as Statutory Sick Pay and leave, and should also provide a framework for how a business will look to manage long term absence too.
- Probation/Performance Management
Often very specific to the company in question, this policy provides the steps the organisation will take to manage performance and/or probation which you hope you will not need to enforce, but need clear guidelines setting out if you do.
- Drugs & Alcohol
Another you hope not to have to enforce, this policy provides the steps taken in both random and investigatory drug and alcohol testing and would certainly link directly to other policies such as disciplinary or absence.
As with anything HR-related, regular reviews are key and if you have any of the above policies and have not reviewed them in a while, or if you don’t have any of the policies, get in touch. Policies and procedures are commonly requested by a Tribunal Court and support employment decisions within an organisation.
You can reach new heights with Spire HR, either on fixed HR retainer fees or one-off fees.
Protect your company. Invest in your staff. Get in touch today on 01925 626253.
