Good policies matter. Yes there is very often confusion about the policies an organisation needs, and what they are for. Like many areas of governance organisations seem often to have policies because, well, we have to have them. Right?
I don’t disagree – but there are a lot of mistakes organisations make that mean their policies are really not fit for purpose. If you have to have policies – and you do – then make them good policies.
What Are Policies For?
Let’s start with the purpose then. What are policies for?
Good policies are a useful resource for staff helping them do their jobs. They are an enabler of collaboration and resilience within teams, departments and organisations as a whole. Like all good governance activity they are worth the effort.
What Do Good Policies Look Like?
Policies are a short, relatively high-level guide for employees and, where appropriate, other workers that set out:
- The organisation’s attitude to the topic the policy covers
- A summary of roles and responsibilities
- Where to go for help
- The consequences for not following the policy
They are a useful reference guide for anyone who needs to understand the basics, and they are absolutely not the definitive how-to a subject matter expert would need. That means policies should be wherever possible short. Here I defer to HR experts; employment matters are quite complex so their policies may need to be a little longer. However, I generally reject draft policies that, including the cover sheet, are 10 pages long or more.
Of course some people need to know more, and for them you can and should produce detailed technical guidance that the relevant subject matter expert should maintain as a living document.
An example of this is a client of ours – an organisation of 50 people that had over 100 policies, the largest of which was over 500 pages long. We relished the opportunity to throw them out and start again, whittling them down to less than 30 policies, less (generally) than 10 pages. For an organisation that size it really was a win to go from 10,000 pages of policy to 300. And they never looked back!
The Content of Good Policies
The organisation’s attitude is important to include because the core function of the policy is to tell people what your views are on the matter at hand. I’ve lost count of the number of policies on, say, countering fraud and bribery that aren’t clear whether the organisation is for it or against it.
Roles and responsibilities are also important to set out. Who is the owner of the policy? Who is the operational lead for the topic the policy covers? What are the responsibilities of staff reading the policy? For example, if staff suspect fraud or bribery is taking place should they speak up, and to whom?
Finally, you must set out the consequences of not following the policy. One of the key distinctions to make between a policy and supporting guidance is that the policy is part of employee’s terms and conditions. By breaching the policy they are breaching their employment contract. When this happens the appropriate action must be taken (but there’s an element of fairness to this – see below).
Applying your policies
Having briefly touched on how a policy should be structured, we now need to think about the application of the policy. Too many organisations simply do not adhere to their own expectations.
To successfully implement a policy you must follow it yourself. There are too many organisations that treat policies as a shield from which to protect themselves from their employees rather than a tool to help them succeed – often the thinking behind the over-long and detailed policies that we have seen.
There is a problem here though. If a policy isn’t fair (actually a resource people can understand and use), isn’t consistently applied, and isn’t adhered to by the organisation itself, then you needn’t be the best employment barrister in the world to make a case at an employment tribunal.
You have to follow your policies too
That means you need to check your policies don’t commit you to things you can’t deliver. In addition you have to benchmark your own performance against your stated policies and not just that of your staff. This at a minimum means keeping your policies up to date and reviewing them regularly. The advantages of clear, simple and short policies is that they can have a lifespan of two or three years (so long as underpinning guidance is kept live) – but they must be reviewed and updated, and when changed disseminated.
Good policies are a useful resource for staff for helping them do their jobs. They are an enabler of collaboration and resilience within teams, departments and organisations as a whole. Like all good governance activity they are worth the effort.
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