Page 5 - DRG HR HANDBOOK- Nikita Pillay
P. 5
POLICIES AND
PROCEDURES
egardless of your organisation’s size, developing This is accomplished by providing the organisation and
formal policies and procedures can make it employees with limits and a choice of alternatives that
Rrun much more smoothly and efficiently. They can be used to ‘guide’ their decision-making process as
communicate the values and vision of the organisation, they attempt to overcome problems.
ensuring employees understand exactly what is expected
As employees are hired, it is important that they
of them in certain situations.
understand the correct work process to ensure that the
Policies and procedures save time and stress when service or product maintains high quality.
handling HR issues.
WHAT ARE PROCEDURES?
The absence of written policies results in unnecessary
time and effort spent trying to agree on a course of action. The ultimate goal of every ‘Procedure’ is to provide
With strict guidelines already in place, employees simply the organisation and employees and with a clear and
have to follow the procedures and managers have to easily understood plan of action required to carry out or
enforce the policies. implement a policy.
Implementing these documents also improves the way A well-written procedure will also help eliminate common
an organisation looks from the outside. misunderstandings by identifying job responsibilities
and establishing boundaries for employees.
Policies and procedures help to ensure your company
complies with relevant regulations. They also demonstrate Good procedures allow managers to control events in
that organisations are efficient, professional and stable. advance and prevent the organisation (and employees)
This can lead to stronger business relationships and a from making costly mistakes. A procedure can be defined
better public reputation. as a road map where the trip details are highlighted in
order to prevent a person from getting lost or ‘wandering’
WHAT ARE POLICIES? off an acceptable path identified by the company’s
management team.
A ‘Policy’ is a predetermined course of action, which
is established to provide a guide toward accepted When procedures are followed, there is consistency in
business strategies and objectives. In other words, it is practice for work processes. This helps to ensure that
a direct link between an organisation’s ‘vision’ and their things are done the same way, every time and that all
day-to-day operations. Policies identify the key activities steps are followed.
and provide a general strategy to decision-makers on
To create an acceptable policy, the following must be
how to handle issues as they arise.
very carefully noted. The policy must:
Well-written policies and procedures allow employees to Set out the aim of the Policy
clearly understand their roles and responsibilities within
Explain why the Policy was developed
predefined limits. Basically, policies and procedures
List who the policy applies to
allow management to guide operations without constant
Set out what is acceptable or unacceptable
management intervention. 5
behaviour
