Open your Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual for a fresh look and you may find you’ve opened up your whole organization.
If you’re like most companies, chances are good your company has a human resources policies and procedures manual. Unfortunately, they’re equally good that that once-vital human resources policies and procedures manual hasn’t been touched by human hands for some time now.
Companies spend valuable time and money compiling their HR policies and procedures. Why do these documents so often end up in three-ring binder purgatory?
There are generally three reasons: First, the policies are either not understood or misunderstood. Second, and perhaps the cause for the first reason, they are poorly written and not well thought through. And finally, even if valid when written, many policies and procedures are now obsolete and possibly even irrelevant.
HR policies usually grow up over time, as the company develops. Management is confronted with a situation of some sort and must make a decision. That decision then becomes codified into policy. Then, at some point, someone sits down, perhaps a policy committee, and collects the policies into a policies and procedures manual.
Unfortunately, that’s where the process often ends. Though situations continue to come up, and decisions go on being made, few make it into the book. As a result, the document falls increasingly behind the times.
Tow Your Manual In for a Tune-Up … or an Overhaul
For those reasons, perhaps its time you tow your manual into the HR policies shop for, at the least, a tune-up, if not a complete overhaul. There are several important benefits likely to flow from such a project:
–First, you’ll likely find that in having management review your human resources policies and procedures, you’ll open a valuable communications channel from top to bottom among the decision makers of your organization.
–Second, your HR policies and procedures manual may well serve as a training tool for your newer managers.
–Third, you’ll have an opportunity to ensure anew that your HR policies and procedures meet the latest legal requirements and guidelines.
–And finally, your HR policies will be in sync with the latest technology and techniques, bringing these efficiencies to all parts of your organization.
Of course, as with many ideas with lots of upside, there’s also one downside: You’ll likely have to find a new dust collector.