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THIS WEEK
How To Write Employee Manuals
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
How to Write Employee Manuals
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If you need to document information into a policies and procedures manual, where should you start? This is one of the questions that have been dogging businesses and business copywriters for decades – how much information is needed and in what format should it be written in?
Before you work on the details, you need to work out what you want your policies and procedures manual to do for your business and what workplace culture you are trying to achieve.
Some businesses want aspirational policies – high-level guidance that allows freedom of implementation. They believe that by taking the rules away, that they give their team members the discretion to implement them as they see fit. For years, Nordstrom was the pin-up company for this sort of approach with their famous 75-word employee manual.
Welcome to Nordstrom
We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.
Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.
Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.
This was supported by intensive culture development initiatives to develop a creative and inspirational workforce. It is interesting to note that in recent years even Nordstrom has moved to a more prescriptive approach, with employees now receiving detailed procedure manuals.
What many businesses have found is they need more detail in their manuals – providing the underpinning philosophy or rationale for the policy as well as more detailed operating procedures in terms of how each part should be applied in the workplace.
Businesses still want to encourage initiative, but they want this initiative to be within clearly defined boundaries. In these situations, a more detailed employee manual is called for.
Once you have your direction sorted, then comes the detail of how your policies and procedures manual should be written. If your business is undergoing quality accreditation, then you are obliged to format your manuals in a certain rigid fashion, with the first page and a half of each policy listing out details including version control, person responsible for the policy, who it applies to, delegations, linkages to other policies or legislation, review processes and so on.
I n my personal experience this makes policy manuals (which are hard to get people to read at the best of times), almost guaranteed to become a dust collector on a bookshelf somewhere. Yes, you need these details, but if the supporting guff is longer that the actual policy (or if it takes too long to find the answer someone is looking for) then people tend to take action first without reading the manual and worry about the consequences later.
The same thing happens if your policies are full of jargon, are very formal in language, or are written with complex words. If your policies are drafted by your company lawyer then you can pretty much guarantee your policies will fall into this category.
The best policies (meaning the ones that actually get read and actioned) are ones that are simple, easy to understand and conversational in tone. Yes, have your company lawyer vet the words to make sure you have not unwittingly created a legal minefield, but don't let them change the overall tone of the language.
With a scattered workforce, you also need to have your policies in an easily accessible place. For small companies, the old-fashioned printed copies in a binder works well. Once you start getting over about 50 employees, you need to look at company intranets and electronic copies of your procedures to make sure they are easily accessible by all of your team members.
Finally, policy and procedure manuals should not exist in isolation. The implementation of the employee manual is as important as the words on the page and needs dedicated time and resources to make it happen. Combine both the words and implementation and you will have a winner.
| HR Tip of the Week: Implementing Your Employee Manual |
 Here's a few ideas on how to go about implementing a new employee manual.
With your team if they have had nothing to this level of detail in place it will be a cultural shift for them. I suggest starting with training your managers first on their roles and responsibilities. Talk them through the manual in some depth – make sure each manager has access to a copy. For the first time they do anything with the new rules – such as recruitment or performance review, sit with them while they go through the process to help them learn as they go.
Your managers will also want input into how the procedures work in their area. They may want to edit the words to better match their understanding or the internal operating processes of your company. Allow that editing process if you can, but you retain final approval of the changes.
Once your managers are aware of the content and have started on the editing, then inform the employees of the manual and its broad contents. Once you have a final version for your workplace I would run a training session where you talk through all of the most important policies with your employees – almost like a new induction.
Make sure each person can access the manual – either electronically or through a printed copy in each work team. Set a realistic timeframe for them to read it and ask any questions – two weeks to a month is time I would give. If you leave it longer they won’t read it. If you leave it too short, you disadvantage some people.
Hold another meeting to answer any questions that may have come up, make any final edits and then a week later the manual comes into effect.
 After 20 years in the HR trenches I had been involved in writing more HR manuals than most people see in a lifetime. As a result my Instant HR Policies & Procedures Manual has been designed for those:
- businesses without a dedicated HR practitioner,
- where there is a new HR person in the role and they are starting from scratch
- businesses wanting to update what they already have .
Since it was written, the manual has been adopted by businesses ranging from one employee to businesses with a few thousand employees. It has found its way into mining companies, builders, retail stores, cultural groups, not for profits and white collar businesses.
While designed for Australian businesses, our manual has also been used by overseas companies.
And people love it!
... you have covered everything and it was very easy to adapt to our Company culture - also having an Australian focus was very useful as most of the other online versions available are US law based, although ironically I actually bought it for our US office and adapted it but have since used it for our Australian office as well.
Kristine Inkster
Heart Harmony's Instant HR Policies & Procedures is invaluable for small businesses - it is professional, extensive, and immediately accessible.
One "find & replace" action was all that was required to create a working draft for our company, and then it was extremely easy to edit to fit our particular situation. It turns a nightmare of documentation requirements into a dream. Thanks Ingrid!
Dianna Blake
Wimmer Water Solutions
Thank you again for the wonderful HR package we purchased from you.
Immediately this morning I spent hrs reading and going through the whole Manual and the extra bonuses...
It is everything we wanted to implement or put in place for our Company; it fits all our Company’s HR policies purposes and needs perfect. We have been using current Labour Law of Samoa – very basic but do not have the details like this package that we have always wanted.
We also appreciate the level of detail and attention and effort you have put into developing it.
It’s a blessing to have found your HR package on the Net.
Shorley Mariner
OSM Consult, Samoa
If your business is looking for a comprehensive, easy to read and adapt HR Manual, then check out our Instant HR Policies & Procedures.
Lessons come in the strangest places - this one came from watching a DVD of a kid's school concert. How far have you come?
exuberantly yours
Ingrid
Heart Harmony
PS: This week's Small Business Tips blog included a post about "Coming Soon - Designer Snuggies".
Legal stuff: This newsletter is intended only a general guideline for Australian businesses. You should seek specific advice for your situation rather than relying only on this newsletter
Earnings disclaimer. Some of the content may include advertorial information, which means I may receive financial compensation for the products I recommend. But - unless I know and trust the product, I will not recommend it.
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