Best practice of the week: Employee policy
The spike in remote work is changing forever how people work together. When did you last audit your employee manual? Your policies and how they’re presented must evolve to avoid confusion and litigation. Announcing a new version is a great leadership opportunity. Some items requiring modification for remote work and working from home are paid leave rules, time-keeping and attendance recording procedures, communications protocols (5.3.2 Staff communications), among others.
Definition of employee policy: “Establishing the principles that help everyone act fairly in both routine and unusual situations.”
Practice Summary
Major principles
- Treat everyone with dignity and respect
- Give everyone the resources and encouragement to make a contribution which gives meaning to their lives
- Recognize people for what they do
Mission Statement – based on delivering broad benefits of the products or services to:
- Customers
- Employees
- Owners
Employee handbook topics
- Onboarding and joining the team
- Code of conduct
- Office environment
- Communication policies
- Compensation and performance reviews
- Benefits
- When someone leaves
- Company story
3 Good Questions
- How many policies are too many?
- How is the need for policy related to morale?
- How can a policy be made both fair and flexible?
Here’s an excellent (promotional) article about remote work policies you could borrow pieces from. If the thought of reading your own employee manual makes you groan, that only means you should have done this last year…
