If you’ve been in HR long enough, you’ve probably had a few instances when you had to wriggle your way out of tricky situations that could have been easily avoided if clear policies had been put in place to mitigate such situations.
For instance, in our 17 years of experience as HR consultants, we’ve seen seemingly insignificant things lead to major problems: from dress codes gone wrong to fraud perpetuated by lovebirds within an organisation.
Through it all, we’ve learnt one vital lesson: when it comes to managing an organisation, put policies in place to cover all crucial issues that have to do with how employees relate to one another.
Therefore, to better protect your employees and business, it is time to add a few underestimated but important policies to your employee handbook.
Here are four optional but relevant HR policies to include in your employee handbook.
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Relevant HR Policies to Include in Your Employee Handbook
1. Employee Dating Policy
Whether co-workers should get involved with each other has often been debated. When it may violate privacy to decide whom a person should date or not date, creating an employee dating policy can help your company avoid potentially tricky situations that can arise from such relationship distractions.
Moreover, considering that it may be awkward for managers to tell employees what to do during their off time, putting a formal policy in place can help them initiate the conversation and handle it properly.
As you prepare to institute this policy, the first thing you want to clarify is that the company isn’t interested in controlling employees’ personal lives or inhibiting employee interaction.
Instead, the objective of the policy is to prevent problematic issues like potential claims of sexual harassment, conflicts of interest, complaints of favouritism and negative employee morale.
Some provisions included in an employee dating policy are:
- Workplace romances are to be avoided as much as possible.
- If employees do get involved, they must never report to one another. In addition, they mustn’t be of significantly different rank, and they mustn’t work in the same unit/department.
- There must be no public displays of affection or instances of lovers’ quarrels. Couples must keep it professional and must avoid acting like couples at work.
- Stipulate the consequences for breaking these rules.
2. Corporate Dress Code Policy
Everyone has a preferred look. While some are naturally inclined towards modesty, the philosophy of some individuals is that the fewer clothes they have on, the better.
While establishing a corporate dress code isn’t intended to stifle people’s style and identity, it is necessary to create some form of decorum in your organisation.
A dress code is used to communicate what your organisation considers appropriate work attire to employees. It allows you to set expectations regarding the image you want your company to convey.
However, when creating the policy, seek input from people of all ages and backgrounds in your organisation.
When crafting your final dress guide:
- Ensure that it is consistent with your clients’ expectations and your company culture.
- Try not to be tone-deaf to changing standards and cultural trends. For example, don’t go too extreme with specifics about the length of skirts, dresses, or height of shoes, et cetera.
- Leave room for religious considerations (as long as it conforms to the company’s expectations).
- It must provide an understanding of what is or isn’t acceptable attire for the workplace, including:
- Type of clothing
- Hygiene
- Grooming
- Piercings
Managers in your organisation should then use the dress code to ensure consistency on this issue and reduce the likelihood of negative repercussions or reactions.
3. Gifts and Favours Policy
As innocent as giving gifts or favour may appear, it can quickly create a conflict of interest, especially when the exchange is between your vendors and employees with purchasing responsibilities, your customers and sales reps, and your hiring managers and job candidates.
In instances like this, a formal gift and favours handbook policy can ensure that the decisions are based on business (not personal) interests.
A standard gift and favours policy generally state that all employees must commit to treating all people and organisations impartially. This mandate extends to those people and organisations an employee conducts business with.
Specifically, the policy must communicate:
- Who may give a gift to company employees, and under what circumstances those gifts can be accepted. It should clearly state that promises of gifts and favours should not influence agreements with vendors, customers and potential employees.
- What kinds of gifts and favours are permissible. It is advisable to place limits on the market value of gifts. For instance, any gifts higher than $150 may be deemed unacceptable.
4. Employee Complaint-Resolution Policy
Because conflict stemming from misunderstandings and frustrations are bound to arise in the workplace, an employee complaint resolution policy is necessary to guide your employees on how to deal with them constructively.
An effective employee complaint-resolution policy should:
- First, clearly outline the steps employees should take immediately conflict or complaints arise.
- Explain how complaints are investigated and handled.
- Identify critical points of contact. Appoint a qualified person to be the primary point of contact for handling employee complaints. The contact information of the individual should be included in the handbook.
In addition, the complaint policy should also contain information that protects the company from litigation.
In summary,
As they say: it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. In the same way, including these underestimated policies in the employee handbook can go a long way toward preventing HR headaches and reducing employer liabilities.
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