Key Company Policies & Procedures

Company policies are vital in ensuring employees know their employer's expectations and the rights and protections to which they are entitled.

Although policies are valuable to employers and employees, many employers don't have them in place or where they have them; the documents are not used and have become outdated. Getting policies in place is a worthwhile exercise but can seem like an intimidating task.

Putting company policies & procedures in place

• Why your company needs policies and procedures
• How to decide what company policies you need
• What are mandatory company policies?
• Other important company policies
• Industry-specific company policies
• How to manage company policy attestations

Why your company needs policies & procedures

Having a set of corporate policies and procedures in place is important to any organisation, regardless of size.

Having written policies in place helps:

• Provide a roadmap for day-to-day operations and matters in the workplace.
• Ensure that the company is compliant with employment laws and regulations from time to time.
• Managers feel confident about the next steps when they manage a team. Clear and helpful policies help ensure that all line managers act in the same way, in accordance with streamlined internal processes.
• Assist in clarifying and reinforcing standards expected of employees in all their professional dealings and explain what is and is not acceptable in the workplace.
• Ensure consistency and reduce the risk of employees claiming they've been treated inequitably or that they have been discriminated against.
  
  

How to decide what company policies you need

While implementing these policies can seem like a lot of work, they will be hugely beneficial once they are in place.

Not having the correct corporate policies and effective HR planning can create future HR problems. These problems can negatively impact your team's productivity, lead to potential claims, and negatively impact the company's financial health.

Regulators expect all companies to have some essential corporate policies in place. They require these policies to be enforced and outlined and made easily accessible to all staff.

What are mandatory company policies?

Pulling corporate policies and procedures together can seem daunting, as there are so many you can have.

You can introduce this all in one go in a Staff Handbook, or you can focus on what's most important and build on the bank of policies bit by bit.

If you're taking this latter approach, the best place to start is with the mandatory policies an employer must have. These policies are as follows:

A. Disciplinary Procedure

All employees must be provided with a contract/statement of the particulars of their employment within a month of their employment. This document is required under Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The Act requires that there is a reference to any disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures within this section 1 document. The disciplinary policy will set out the proper, fair procedure which will be followed in instances of disciplinary action, which is central to the law on unfair dismissal.

B. Grievance Procedure

As stated above, the ERA 1996 requires that a company references their grievance procedure in the section 1 statement provided to employees. The grievance procedure provides a clear mechanism for raising complaints formally. Having the policy ensures you've complied with your legal obligation and sets out clear ways for your employees to communicate complaints and concerns and how the company will handle them.

C. Health & Safety Policy

Mandatory if you have more than five employees. The policy aims to protect workers from harm while at work. This includes protection from physical harm and potential health complications resulting from their work. Having the policy in place has moral benefits whilst protecting an employer from a financial and legal point of view.

Key non-mandatory company policies

Once those are in place, the following policies are all recommended as they bring with them clear benefits to both employer and employee:

1. Bullying & harassment policy

This is a really important policy, setting clear lines about what an employer will not tolerate and the process that will be followed should complaints of this nature be made.

2. Data protection policy

Data protection policies demonstrate the company's commitment to ensuring the protection and privacy of personal data. Suppose a company is subject to compliance audits or experiences a data breach. In that case, its data protection policy can be presented as evidence demonstrating the company's commitment to data protection principles to mitigate any penalties.

3. Maternity/paternity/adoption policy

This policy sets out expectations of employees wanting to take these types of leave and the payments they would receive whilst on leave.

4. Whistleblowing policy

Having this policy will help encourage openness within the workplace by showing staff that the business and management will not only act in the event of wrongdoing but also protect anyone blowing the whistle. The policy will also establish a clear procedure to follow when a complaint is made so the process is transparent.

5. Annual leave policy

Having a clear process for how to request annual leave and who will grant it will help ensure consistency in dealing with requests.

6. Flexible working policy

Now that employees have a statutory right to request flexible working arrangements, requests are increasing. Having a flexible working policy helps ensure that requests are dealt with fairly by setting out the qualifying criteria for applications and detailing the process that will be followed to deal with requests.

7. Hybrid working policy

In the past, flexible working predominantly revolved around working hours. Hybrid working instead focuses on the location where an employee works. Covid caused a sea change in the volume of hybrid workers. Having a hybrid working policy helps ensure that employees and candidates know your company's approach to hybrid working.

8. Social media policy

Increasingly, the line between work and private lives is blurred through the use of social media. Having a social media policy, setting out expected standards, and determining what would be deemed to bring the company into disrepute would be helpful.

9. IT & email communications policy

Setting out matters such as the acceptable use of company laptops and whether there are any rules around using company email accounts for private matters. It can also include rules around ensuring the privacy of company information on laptops when working remotely (including locking laptops and using a privacy screen).

10. Gifts & hospitality policy

Having a policy of this kind ensures that there are clear rules about accepting or giving gifts and hospitality. This is important to protect against the risk of fraud, corruption, bribery and reputational damage.

11. ESG policy

Environmental, social, and governance policies help to provide stakeholders with a documented business approach to ESG issues, i.e. the company's environmental impact, social responsibility and governance.

Industry-specific company policies

You should also consider any policies specific to your sector or the type of work some of your employees do. This will ensure that your policies are of maximum value to you, your business and your employees.

Here are some examples of sector-specific policies:

Working hours policy

A policy regarding working hours to comply with European driving regulations and tachograph use would be helpful for companies employing long-distance drivers, pilots, doctors, train drivers, shift workers, etc.

Lone-working policy

Where employees work alone, visiting service users in their own homes, a policy on lone working would be sensible, setting out processes to follow to ensure safety.

Vulnerable customer policy

If the employees work with vulnerable customers/patients, a policy setting out regulatory and/or reporting requirements would be beneficial.

If you are unsure whether a policy should cover something, it is sensible to get legal advice.

How to manage company policy attestations

Having corporate policies is all very well, but you need your staff to understand and agree to them. If you have many policies or a large workforce, it can become an administrative headache.

There are, however, online tools available, including Skillcast Policy Hub, that can help shoulder the burden of managing policies.

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