When it comes to a harmonious office,
policies are usually the best way to get everyone on the same track. They are
simple guidelines that let people know what is expected in certain situations.
It is good for everyone to be on the same page. You’re looking to keep your
staff productive, motivated, and create an atmosphere that nurtures respect and
work ethic. It sounds like a big ask, but really a few simple steps will get
you what you are looking for.
Talking
Before you start pinning the
policies to the wall, spend some time to talk about them first. If you have
stakeholders, investors, partners, then they will need to be consulted. Health
and safety bodies will also need to be called in to make sure that you are
within the law and use their guidance to get the policies right - and make sure
you have the ones that are legally required of you.
Your employees will also be
ideal to speak to. They know the work that they do, the break times, and
navigate the people in the office on a daily basis. Everyone in the office will
need to have a say about what they would like to see built into the policies,
and everyone should understand why they need to be put in place too.
Keeping the conversation open
for everyone to have their say will give a better overview of what is really
needed and what is excessive or unnecessary.
One Size
Not every business will need
the same policies and procedures. Some offices will deal with highly sensitive
information, others won’t. Such things like a mobile phone policy will differ
from place to place. For mobile phone policy templates, you can check out https://getsling.com/blog/cell-phone-policy-at-work/.
You can find plenty of policies that will work from general guides and other
sources - but they will still need to be tailored to your business before they
will truly make any impact.
Adapt what will work, ditch
what won’t.
Specificity
All of your policies should be
short and to the point. The longer and more jargon-filled they are, the less
likely people will read them or adhere to them. The language should be as plain
as possible. You are looking to create an auditable standard in your policies.
This means you will have clear benchmarks and can gauge how you are doing
overall in implementation and adhering to the guides.
The language matters. So if
you say ‘dispose of sensitive materials’ there is the question of how they
should be disposed of, how often and where. So, instead write ‘dispose of
sensitive information every Friday, use a paper shredder for hardcopies and
delete digital copies from your hard drive.’
Reality
The policies have to be
manageable. If you don’t have time, people or resources to make sure that the
policies are implemented - it is a lot of time wasted. Adopting policies that
are best practice but then not having the tools to uphold the policies just
isn’t going to work.
If you have spoken to the
staff and people who are financially involved in the business, there should be
no policies that won’t work, or that you cannot put into action.
Share
Once you have everything
written up, and you feel that the policies match all of the discussions that
you had, it is time to make them known.
Producing a single manual for
each employee, plus some spares in the office will mean that you have done your
due diligence in ensuring everyone is up to date. If you have an office
network, it is helpful to put a digital copy on there for ease of access
too.
Training
It is now your duty to make
sure that all employees receive training that pertains the guidance in the
policies. New staff will be given training and a manual, but for staff that has
been around a while, you might need to offer a few sessions. Old habits are
harder to break, so it might take longer to get people all on the same
page.
You can hire outside training
teams to put
together workshops, team meetings, and conversations that will help see
your policies upheld and fully understood.
Unfortunately, it is not
likely that you are going to be able to hand out a manual and see things
change. Once you have given the manual, send a follow-up email asking people to
ensure they read it. After that, have a range of face-to-face meetings where
you can get them to sign that they understand the importance of policies and
are going to comply with them. This means that if anything happens within the
office environment between members of staff, you have it in writing that they
knew those actions were against policy.
Consistency
A member of staff, or perhaps
someone hired in should be in control of the upholding and adherence of your
policies and procedures. Although it is everyone's duty to make sure that they
are sticking to the rules, a single body to report to or talk to is
ideal.
There should be guidelines and
procedures for dealing with issues that have broken the policies in the
workplace too. And, there should be little to no exceptions when they are
broken. Deliberate breaches of policy should be treated seriously - these will
be the ones that are obviously wrong, not just a requirement of the
office.
Leading by example, is
essential here. The management and owners should always be seen to adhere to
the policies that they have put in place.
It is vital to note that is
managers are seen to let certain behaviors slide, that if a dispute happens, it
may be said that the action taken against X employee is unfair when the manager
allows Y get away with the same thing.
The actions typically
associated with breaching policies are:
Training
Counseling
Dismissal
There are likely policies that
if broken, should be instant dismissal and will be noted as such in your
manual.
Updating
Your staff turnover, new government
policies, new health, and safety policies will all have an impact on how long
you can have policies for. They will need to be reviewed and changed
accordingly. Even if your office simply orders a new printer, coffee machine,
and shredder. Those items will need to be written into the policy to protect
staff and your assets.
Ideally, you will review your
policies at least every 2 years, and provide the necessary training for your
staff at this time too. If you have an office manager, or a document automation
system, then make sure that a review is scheduled.
Once the updates have been
made, getting staff to sign off on agreement and compliance is a must, as well
as reissuing any materials that you had produced previously.
Enforcing
Once you have spent the time
to develop and implement the policies, they should be enforced and acknowledged
all the time. Make sure that you consistently are seen to follow up all
complaints, that you are compliant and that you are seen to discipline and
breaches within the policies that you have laid out.
Always remember that the more
straightforward and common sense the policies are, the more likely your
workforce is going to be able to follow them without worry. There should always
be policies that touch on homophobia, sexism, racism, and other serious
misconducts that would fall into the same remit.
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