Are your policies causing MORE WORK for you? 7 Tips for ensuring your policies are working for you and not against you

Last week’s Tip discussed how to decide which policies to incorporate into your employee handbook. This week, we’re going to get into the nitty-gritty: how policies should be written.

When it comes to a well-written policy, there’s really only one question to focus on: Is the policy creating MORE work, or is it working FOR you? While on the surface this may appear to be a fairly simple question, the answer is often more complex. It has nothing to do with the amount of time and effort it takes to draft the policy; rather, you need to take into account the time you spend after implementing. Think about the time involved explaining, clarifying, or updating the policy, defending its legality, or handling employment-related lawsuits caused by the policy’s contents.

The following is our handbook consultants’ “do less work” checklist. It’s used to aid our clients in writing policies that protect the company and will create the least amount of work down the road:

# 1: Don’t complicate things:

Policies that are unnecessarily complicated create MORE WORK by causing you to dedicate extra time explaining what it all means.

Don’t use big words or overly complicated sentences. Avoid vocabulary that may not be understood by all employees.

“More work” policy: “Employees found to have breached company policy will be subjected to progressive disciplinary action.”

Do write in easy to understand language. It’s recommended that your employee handbook be written at a fifth grade reading level to ensure understanding.

“Less work” policy: “Employees who do not follow company policy will face disciplinary action. Our discipline process is made up of…”

# 2: Avoid leaving your employees confused:

Lack of clarity may cause your employees to interpret policies differently than you intended. This causes MORE WORK by requiring you to explain the policy’s meaning to your employees; or worse yet, if faced with a legal claim, the courts may side with the employee if he or she reasonably misinterpreted company policy.

Don’t be too vague. Leaving too much room for interpretation is never a good idea. If you are too vague employees may interpret policies differently than you had intended them to.

“More work” policy: Employees will be entitled to company benefits after employment begins”.

Do be clear and concise. Be sure your word choice is effective, your language is clear, and that the company is protected.

“Less work” policy: “In order to qualify for benefits with ABC Company employees must have worked at ABC Company for least 3 consecutive months.”

# 3: Don’t make any promises:

Words and/or statements that imply employment with the company is in some way permanent may limit your ability to take certain actions, including terminating an employee, even for cause. Restrictive language will create MORE WORK for you if you’re ever required to defend against breach of contract claims.

Don’t use restrictive language. Avoid words that limit the company’s ability to take certain actions or otherwise have a permanent connotation. Words such as “always”, “will,” “must” or “in all cases” may bind employers to such “promises”.

“More work” policy: “Employees will be subject to discipline for the following actions…”

If an employee happens to engage in inappropriate conduct that’s not specifically listed within your policy, you may have little recourse for disciplining him or her.

Do leave your options open. Instead, use words and phrases that give you the freedom to consider each circumstance on a case-by-case basis. Statements such as “at management’s discretion”, “each circumstance is unique”, “in some cases”, or “the company may…” will serve to accomplish this.

“Less work” policy: “The following are examples of the types of behaviors that may warrant disciplinary action…” “This list is only intended to illustrate the types of behaviors that may result in disciplinary action and that it is by no means exhaustive.”

# 4: Be mindful of state laws

Failure to take into consideration state laws when drafting employee policies is a huge red flag, indicating that your company practices are not consistent with your legal requirements. Lack of state-specific policies will likely cause MORE WORK down the road if ever faced with a lawsuit.

Don’t only think about federal requirements. Too often we see employee policies that comply with federal laws without regard to state requirements. Failure to include state-specific policies may leave you susceptible to liability by demonstrating that your company practices are not consistent with your legal requirements.

“More work” policy: “ABC Company does not discriminate on the basis of: age, race, color, gender, national origin, religion, and disability.”

While this complies with federal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, does it comply with your state EEO laws?

Do keep in mind state laws when developing policies. Federal laws won’t necessarily protect you in all circumstances. Employers must be sure to customize their policies to reflect state requirements as well.

“Less work” policy: If your state is one of many that have additional employment protections than what is granted at the federal level, you’ll need to take that into consideration when drafting your EEO policy. For example, if under your state civil rights laws sexual orientation and gender identity are considered protected characteristics, your policy should look more like this: “ABC Company does not discriminate on the basis of: age, race, color, gender, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

# 5: Have some fun with it!

Policies that are overly negative will cause MORE WORK, requiring you to calm down disgruntled or frustrated employees and devote more energy and resources into boosting morale.

Don’t have a negative focus. All too often employers use the handbook to describe company rules, procedures and standards. Not only is this boring to read, employees may view the company as bureaucratic rather than a fun place to work.

Do promote company perks. The employee handbook doesn’t need to be just a book of rules, put a positive spin on it! Let employees know exactly why it’s so great to work for you; clearly communicate company benefits and perks and let your organizational culture shine through.

Less work: While including standards of conduct it is important, be sure to highlight your company’s positive attributes, such as your annual company party, the educational assistance you provide, or the company sports team that you sponsor.

# 6: Cut down on administration time

Information that is likely to change regularly should be excluded in order to avoid having to make regular updates to your handbook, resulting in MORE WORK for you.

Don’t include information that may change frequently. It’s not recommended to include information that has the potential to change, and may even change frequently, within your employee handbook. This includes employee names, dates of company events, and phone numbers.

“More work” policy: “See Jane Smith, Office Manager, if you lose your employee identification badge.”

Do use an alternative approach. To avoid having to revise your handbook every time an employee leaves, consider using position titles rather than employee names.

“Less work” policy: “See the Office Manager if you lose your employee identification badge.”

# 7 Use an easy-to-read format

Jumbling multiple policies per page or designating page numbers for each policy will only cause MORE WORK in the long run. This approach will require that you change your table of contents every time a change to one of your policies causes its contents to go into the next page.

Don’t jumble multiple policies to a page. Not only is reading more than one policy per page daunting, having multiple policies per page increases administrative time if policy changes result in a reconfiguration of your table of contents.

     More work:

     Table of contents:

• Introduction…………..1
• Welcome Message….2
• Company History……2

Do number policies for easy reference. Include a table of contents with policy numbers only. This way if a policy that was previously one-page is revised, causing it to run onto a second page, you won’t need to waste time changing all page numbers that follow. It’s also recommended that you only have one policy per page for easy reading.

     Less work:

Table of contents:

• 101 Introduction
• 102 Welcome Message
• 103 Company History

Policy writing is an art. It requires careful consideration to ensure proper word choice, prevent misinterpretations, and to present the information in the manner in which you intended. Add this list of do’s and don’ts to your bag of tricks and you’ll likely have sound employment policies effective in protecting your company from liability.