Writing Effective HR Policies – Simple Steps to Follow

HR policies are the guidelines set by an organization to keep a smooth workplace functionality. HR procedures are the steps that must be taken to follow the guidelines. Together, both make up a part of HRM (Human Resource Management.)

The set rules for a business can take care of many things that might go wrong in a workplace. For instance, gender discrimination, bullying, harassment, dress code, performance evaluation, and so on.

As an HR manager, the task of writing comprehensive HR policies is challenging. You must be highly aware of the organization’s background, culture, and current circumstances, including the working staff.

Hence, we came up with this post to assist you in writing effective HR policies with a few simple steps.

Be Mindful of the Need

Understand the need for drafting a policy or procedure. Review the circumstances and decide upon which set of rules must be implemented to settle the situation. 

For instance, the most commonly implemented HR policy during COVID-19 was getting the vaccination certification from employees. What first felt like a nuisance, became the reason for saving countless corporal and civilian lives.

Simultaneously, the Work from Home culture was blooming in the industry. Unprecedented times required HR managers to update their previous policies to cater to the issues in remote work and ensure productivity.

Hence, you need to be aware of the purpose for which the policy-making is invoked. Be mindful of the goals so that you work with clarity.

Consult the Key Stakeholders

Stakeholders are of two types: 1) internal, and 2) external. 

• Internal stakeholders are the company’s management team like the CEO, COO, Senior Team Leads, and so on.

These people can help you the most with your policy-making as they’re fully aware of the organization’s culture, values, and existing protocols.

• Meanwhile, external stakeholders are a company’s customers, shareholders, vendors, suppliers, and so on. 

External stakeholders are not the ones you need to “consult” for policy writing. Yet, you still have to keep their needs in the back of your mind while drafting the guidelines.

Hence, to make your HR policies effective, you need to involve the key internal stakeholders from the start. Take their continuous input to end up with a polished piece of work. 

Write Clearly and Concisely

Don’t lose the primary purpose of policy-writing; to clearly communicate relevant information to the staff members. 

To do so, you’ll need to adopt an active stanza and avoid using passive voice in your work. Also, you must discourage using HRM jargon to make your work universal to understand the organizational members.

Mention the name and procedure for each policy and state the groups on which the said policy applies. This way, you’ll eliminate any room for misinterpretations, making your policies effective.

You must also write concisely and to the point. Irrelevant details will become a source of distraction for the readers, making them lose the main message. Hence, try to summarize the text as much as possible.

Ensure Future-proofing

The policies must not mention names of individuals, or other variables that are bound to change with time.

Write your policies in general terms so that your provided information doesn’t become obsolete. Study the past and current market trends to predict the ones in the future. This will help you make a comprehensive document.

For instance, AI is currently blooming in the professional industries. A reasonable projection suggests that in the future, utilizing AI will become inevitable. Thus, policies can be made to define eligible proportions of AI usage in specific tasks.

However, if you still feel the need, consult other HR professionals to learn techniques for writing future-proof policies. 

Organize your Thoughts

The stakeholders, namely the ones at the top, don’t have much time to index your work. Hence, make your policies well-structured and organized for easy knowledge transfer to everyone in the organization.

Provide clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points for easy navigation. Maintain a consistent font sizing and styling throughout the document and give it a professional outlook.

Plus, define key terms in your work that are important to understanding the policies. A simple organization of the work can aid the understanding of regular employees and the upper management team.

Such small steps can ensure an easy implementation of the procedures, uplifting the overall quality of the work environment in the company.

Review, Approval, and Update (RVA)

After the first draft is completed, proofread your writing and try to find obvious errors like grammatical mistakes, etc.

Then, send your policy document to the key internal stakeholders for review. Wait for their approval before informing the employees of the new changes.

After the reviewing process comes the approval stage. Several changes might be suggested at this level that you’ll need to incorporate in your policies for them to be effective.

We’ll suggest you not take anything personally; understand the basis and need of the suggested amendments and adjust the document, accordingly.

With a considerate following of the SVA methodology, your work will become polished, thorough, and perfectly suitable for the decided purpose.

FAQ

What’s The Importance Of HR Policies?

HR policies ensure the smooth functionality of an organization by outlining the responsibilities of both the employees and the employer. Hence, it can instill a feeling of trust, support, and inclusion in the workplace.

What Are The Main Elements Of An Effective HR Policy?

The key elements of an HR policy are as follows.

• Name
• Purpose
• Details of procedure
• Applied groups
• Exceptions
• Reviewer name
• Effective Date
• Key Definitions

Mainly, these things define an effective and comprehensive HR policy.

In this post, we saw 6 simple steps that you can follow to write effective HR policies. These included understanding the purpose and need of policy-making and consulting the stakeholders to get relevant background information.

Also, to write with clarity and conciseness while ensuring future-proofing and structuring of the work. Finally, implement the SVA process to polish up the document and make it effective for the organization.