Employment Policies

"The modern work world needs a “reimagining” of workplace policies and practices."

The workplace policies you have in place and the HR practices you adhere to will set the tone for your organization. It’s important for employers to protect themselves legally by developing sound and compliant policies. It’s also imperative your policies accurately reflect your culture and promote a positive and professional work environment.

Having the right employment policies in place is foundational. When helping our clients develop an employee handbook or review an existing one, we take a very deliberate and intentional approach to each policy, asking whether it incentivizes the right behaviors and/or deters conduct that could be disruptive to the workplace or cause legal liability. Whether it’s how a company will resolve conflict or when employees can take time off, all policies must meet legal requirements and also be a reflection of what the organization values most. Policies should also include guidance on expected standards of conduct, performance requirements and any other “daily work practices” specific to the business.

Today’s workplaces require a whole new “reimagining” of employment policies and practices. With the “millennial influence” and most employees now desiring more flexibility, work-life balance, remote work arrangements and career development opportunities, we are helping clients modernize their policies and shift their culture to improve employee satisfaction and engagement. While legal protections remain critical, workplace policies are evolving to include ways to enhance an employer’s brand (i.e. policies that showcase benefits) and to address modern workplace issues (i.e. equal employment opportunity policies, social media, and electronic communication).

Our goal with policy development is to create balanced and fair policies and encapsulate these in a well-written employee handbook. We continually research what the most progressive companies are doing to attract and retain top talent through the development and implementation of their employment policies. We benchmark and review industry standards to make sure our clients have the most up-to-date policies so that they can remain competitive in the marketplace.

In addition to the employee handbook, we assist with the creation of vital HR forms and templates. These include coaching/counseling and corrective action forms, improvement plans and any other documentation essential to managing employee relations issues. We tailor these forms and templates to fit your culture and generally keep them simple for ease of use.

Crafting policies that make sense for your company, developing a solid handbook and establishing a set of standardized forms and templates will create alignment and consistency for your organization. The goal is to have uniformity of expectations and all managers enforcing the same set of rules, which will ultimately mitigate against claims of unfair treatment and bolster productivity and morale.

So, where do we begin? We start with the organization’s values and vision. We align everything with these core principles in mind.

The next steps include:

Strategic conversations with leadership to discuss current policies and potential changes
Brainstorming sessions to decide whether policies need to be updated and “modernized”
Development of new and improved policies and integration into an Employee Handbook
Creation of standard HR Forms and Templates (improved efficiencies and legal protections)