Labor Day has come and gone. Our summer vacations are over, and it’s almost time for things like the NFL (your company isn’t sponsoring a betting pool, is it?) and the fall TV season, including The Office.
In advance of the new season, now might be a good time to review your HR policies and procedures. Since I’m a lawyer and adviser for companies, I see outdated and incomplete company policies on a regular basis. Does your company have a policy about Internet usage? Are the FMLA procedures up to date? What about spud guns — do your policies cover them?
There’s never a good time to go through your handbook and make sure all of your policies are as understandable and comprehensive as they should be. But as with most things, a little work now could save you a ton of headaches later.
I’m not encouraging you to add a bunch of complicated, unnecessary policies. Sometimes companies change things just for the sake of change. Was the social networking feature of the Dunder Mifflin Infinity website completely necessary? I doubt it. But what about the Dunder Mifflin love contract policy? While that may not have solved all the problems associated with workplace romances, that policy could help the company avoid the courtroom in the future, and maybe even any liability in a sexual harassment lawsuit.
What works best for your company is something you’ll have to figure out with your management and front-line supervisors. Maybe absenteeism is more of a problem at your company than spud guns. Whatever your problems are, or will be in the future, a little work on the front end might be useful now before things get out of hand.
