Designing HR Policies & Procedures

The world is filled with policy makers. We have plenty policies established across the world in almost every area we can think of. Just like societies need laws to create order and common understandings, organisations need policies. Often, when businesses start small, they leave things loose and create rules as they go. However, there comes a point when an organisation needs to coordinate among its members and provide itself with legal protection. With human nature being what it is, employees will test limits and act “creatively” in workplace situations, so you need a strategy for developing, communicating and enforcing a set of policies and practices that comply with legislation and reflect your standards of acceptable behavior.

Most times we confuse policies and procedures as the same thing but there is a distinct difference between the two. A policy is a predetermined course of action, which is established to provide a guide toward accepted business strategies and objectives.

In other words, it is a direct link between an organization’s ‘Vision’ and their day-to-day operations. Policies identify the key activities and provide a general strategy to decision-makers on how to handle issues as they arise. This is accomplished by providing the reader with limits and a choice of alternatives that can be used to guide their decision-making process as they attempt to overcome problems.