Vintage Computing

Why we need Policy Manuals

"A policy is written to protect a company from those who break
the rules, not from those who follow them."
- Bryce's Law

INTRODUCTION

In today's litigious society, a Policy Manual (sometimes referred to as an
Employee Handbook) is a wise investment for any company, large or small.
Let me give you an example, back when we were developing products for
the mainframe, our staff blossomed to 25 employees, a small company no
matter how you look at it. Like any startup company, our interests
in the early days were on product development, marketing, and servicing
our customers. As our company grew, we began to take on additional
consultants, developers and clerical personnel. We then began to notice
people taking advantage of our work environment, e.g., sick days, excessive
doctor visits, people began to dress sloppily, they were spending too much
time attending to personal affairs at the office, etc. It finally became obvious
to us that we needed a well written policy manual to bring conformity to
our operations and protect the company from abuse. We thereby devised
a formal Policy Manual, and had all of our employees read it and sign a
statement they understood its contents.

Policy Manuals may be common practice in large corporations but it
is also a shrewd investment for small companies. I am still amazed that
a small business such as ours needed to develop a Policy Manual but
I am certainly glad we implemented it for it has saved us on more than
one occasion from frivolous lawsuits brought on by former employees.

From the outset, understand this, a policy is written to protect a company
from those who break the rules, not from those who follow them. In
our early days, when there were just a handful of employees, it was easy
to monitor what everyone was doing and communicate our corporate
position to them. But as the company grew, it added a new level of
complexity to our communications making it harder to assure consistency
in the conformance of our rules. An employer would like to believe its
employees will maintain the best interests of the company. Regrettably,
this is a naive concept as employees normally put their own personal
interests before the company's. If it was true, there would not be a need
for a Policy Manual. A Policy Manual, therefore, is needed for those people
who break the rules; for those who do not, it is a trivial concern.

WHAT SHOULD A POLICY MANUAL CONTAIN?

The manual should provide tightly worded descriptions of corporate positions.
The following is a sampling of sections that should be included. Additional
sections may be required due to the nature of your business.

Introduction:

• Introductory comments from a senior officer (e.g., President) specifying the purpose
  and organization of the manual.

• Code of Employer-Employee Relations - specifying the basic rights of both
  the employee and the employer.

• Optional - organization charts, business function charts, a definition of the
  corporate culture.

Employment:

• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Sexual Harassment
• Hiring
• Employment Agreement
• Orientation and Training
• Medical Procedures
• Probation
• Transfer
• Promotion
• Hours of Work
• Reporting of Time and adherance to defined methodologies.
• Temporary and Part-time Employees
• Termination of Employment
• Retirement
• Safety

Pay Practices:

• Salary Administration
• Performance Appraisals
• Bonuses and Pension
• Severance Pay

Reimbursement of Employee Expenses

• Travel
• Automobile Usage/Vehicle Care
• Customer Entertainment
• Meal Reimbursement
• Expense Account Guidelines
• Participation in Trade and Professional Associations

Employee Benefits:

• Vacations
• Holidays
• Lunch
• Health Services

Company Premises and Work Areas:

• Maintenance of Work Area
• Personal Property
• Solicitation
• Parking
• Security

Absence from Work:

• Attendance and Punctuality
• Short-term Absences
• Leaves of Absence

Personal Conduct:

• Behavior of Employee
• Personal Appearance of Employees
• Personal Finances of Employees
• Customer Relations
• Vendor Relations
• Personal Telephone Calls, Mail, and use of Internet (incl. E-Mail)
• Conflicts of Interest
• Confidential Nature of Company Affairs
• Intellectual Property
• Disciplinary Affairs
• Drugs and Narcotics
• Smoking

Miscellaneous:

• Maintenance of Personnel Records
• Updates (Log)
• Forms

It is not uncommon to structure the policies in accordance with a numbering
scheme somewhat similar to a financial chart of accounts. Further, the
Policy Manual should be prefaced with a Table of Contents which reference
the section numbers. An index is also helpful.

When writing policies, keep the language simple, clear, and to the point. Your
objective is to write policies in such a way as they may not be misinterpreted or
leave anything to someone's imagination. After policies have been written,
they should be carefully reviewed by management and modified accordingly.

It is important to recognize that the policy manual is a legal document and
ultimately represents a contract with your employees. As such, it should be
reviewed by your corporate attorney.

IMPLEMENTATION

Policy Manuals are normally printed and bound and distributed to managers
to review with employees. It is not unusual for companies not to allow such
manuals off of corporate premises. Further, manuals are often numbered
and assigned to individuals. The reasons for this are twofold: to control the
whereabouts of the manuals and to assure employees have reviewed it.

Regardless of how the manuals are distributed, it is important to obtain a
signed statement from each employee that they have reviewed and
understood the policies contained in the manual. This statement should
then be filed in the employee's employment jacket for maintenance. In the
event of modifications or additions to the policy manual, updates should be
issued and employees acknowledge they have read it as well.

Although companies will typically print Policy Manuals, there is a movement
underfoot whereby the Policy Manual is made available to employees via
a secure corporate intranet. In this instance, there should be concern over
unauthorized printing and distribution of the policies.

For more information on developing a Policy Manual, see:

http://www.managementhelp.org/policies/handbook/handbook.htm

Kits are also available at office supply stores or on the Internet; for
a sampling see:

http://www.mrhvac.com/products/books/employmentpolicymanual_kit.htm

http://www.easystreetinc.com/products/pages/POLICY.asp

http://www.templatezone.com/employee-handbook/office-policy-manual.asp

http://www.connectsus.com/products/clearsite.htm

CONCLUSION

If you are going to the trouble of writing a Policy Manual, make sure
that it is effectively implemented and enforced. There is little point in
enacting legislation if you are not going to enforce it.

I have always found the necessity of a Policy Manual to be interesting.
There are those employees who can conceptualize, take initiative,
and lead moral and ethical lives. But there are also those who need to
be told what to do. It is for this latter group that Policy Manuals were devised,
not the former.

Today, the younger generation needs such structure. They have grown up
under a rigorous set of rules and regulations and cannot image life without
such formality. Let me give you an example, as a child, I lived and breathed
baseball. In addition to playing little league, we would have pickup games
before school, after school, and during recess. We probably played more
baseball on our own as opposed to under the rules of the little league. But
today's kids are not like this anymore. Having coached for ten years I have
observed that kids rarely, if ever, have pickup games. Instead, they feel more
comfortable operating under the rules of a league. I knew of a large group of
kids who wanted to play recreational slow-pitch softball during the summer. The
fields were available for such play, but this never happened. It wasn't until I
devised a local league with teams, uniforms, and rules that they all signed up
to play. This taught me how structured our younger people have to be; they
actually prefer being told what to do as opposed to exercising personal
initiative. I find this very odd and somewhat disturbing. Nonetheless,
these are the people who are now entering the workforce.

So, if you are a small company, should you develop a Policy Manual?
If you find your employees require structure in their lives or if there
is a possibility the company might be sued by an employee, the answer,
sadly, is Yes. I cannot imagine operating a company in today's
litigious world without one.

About the Author

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA)
of Palm Harbor, Florida and has 30 years of experience in the field.
He is available for training and consulting on an international basis.
He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com

Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.

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