10 Company Policies to Consider for Your Business Company policies and procedures are the guidelines that establish the codes of conduct within a business. Having clear company policies can help provide an outline of the responsibilities and expectations of employers and employees alike. The company policy manual is the backbone of an organization's philosophy and sets standards of behaviour for everyone. It includes general rules regarding employee conduct, dress code, attendance, travel expenditures, use of personal devices, and other regulations related to the terms of employment. In this article, you will learn about the most common company policies that every business should consider having, followed by best practices to develop and add these policies to your employee handbook. Are you a job seeker? Find Jobs.What are company policies? Acompany policy is an official document that contains instructions related to employee accountability, safety, health, regulatory requirements, legal issues, and interactions with customers. Company policies lay out the framework of how things are done in a company, reflect the company values, and help establish the company culture. Your company policy serves as a guidebook to office behaviour and workplace ethics, and helps inform important decisions. It ensures your company follows all the applicable laws and regulations, and helps create a fair environment that benefits both employers and employees. Why are company policies important? Company policies are a medium to convey what you expect from your employees and how things are done in your organization. So, they create transparency between you and your workers. Here are some more reasons why it is important to have company policies: * Company policies are the main resource for employees to learn about rules and procedures, such as how to dress, what time to arrive and leave, corporate laws, etc. * They help make management easier by setting clear expectations and consequences for certain actions. * Well-thought-out company policies protect the business interests of the company as well as therights of workers. So, they create a safer and more amicable environment for everyone, which helps the organization to run smoothly. They help empower employees to make the right decisions while encouraging them to become more committed and loyal to the company. They help build trust between managers and employees, which is essential for a healthy company culture. They double as legal documents that clearly define the duties of the company and employees, and avert any misunderstandings that could lead to serious consequences. . . List of company policies to consider for your business Each organization may require a different set of company policies. Here are some of the most common policies that you should consider having for your business: 1. Employee Conduct Policy: This defines the responsibilities and appropriate behavioural guidelines that every employee must follow as a condition of employment. It outlines your workplace safety procedures, employee dress code, harassment policies, and internet/office computer usage policies. 2. An employee conduct policy also establishes the procedures or steps that the company may follow to correct inappropriate employee behaviour. The procedures may include warnings and termination.3. Equal Opportunity Policy: This policy promotes a fair work environment, free of prejudice and discrimination. It outlines the importance of impartial behaviour, diversity, and inclusion, and discourages inappropriate or biased decisions based on an employee's gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or cultural beliefs. Anti-discrimination and affirmative action policies fall under this category. Related: Rights in the Workplace 4, Attendance, Vacation, and Time-off Policy: This policy defines the general rules for employees’ work schedules. It sets the guidelines that the employee must follow to schedule time off work or notify managers of an upcoming absence or late arrival. It also describes the consequences in case employees fail to adhere to their schedule or guidelines. For example, you can define the number of absences allowed within a specified time frame along with the disciplinary actions that your company may take if the employee takes a prolonged absence without properly notifying their supervisors. Substance Abuse Policy: A substance abuse policy provides details on prohibition of the use of drugs during office hours or while doing any office work remotely. It also describes the testing procedure that the company may follow in case of suspected drug use or abuse. uw You may also define smoking allowances in this policy to ensure an amicable work environment between smokers and non-smokers. For example, if you allowemployees to take smoke breaks, you may add the condition that smoking is allowed only outside the company premises. . Workplace Security Policy: This policy outlines the specific steps employees must follow during office emergencies or while handling unsafe materials. It also addresses the best practices to protect the company’s intellectual property. For example, you may designate specific identification for employees to present in order to enter the company’s property. You can also clarify whether employees are allowed to take work items, such as laptops, outside the office. Related: Canada Labour Code: An outline of responsibilities and obligations that employers and employees must adhere to in order to create a safe and healthy workplace. . Confidentiality Policy: This helps keep your business reputation in check by protecting customer data, information about new services or products, and trade secrets and procedures. This policy can help prevent unnecessary information leakage. Having a confidentiality policy is especially important if your business is part of a sensitive industry. By asking your employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement, you can restrict them from sharing proprietary data, prototypes, operating methods, software used by your company, internal drawings, tests, results, and internal as well as external communications.8. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy: While allowing your employees to bring their own devices to the office can reduce substantial costs, it can also create several legal and security issues. The BYOD policy can help establish boundaries, security features, and procedures needed to protect your intellectual property when employment ends. 9. Travel Policy: A travel policy allows you to handle business-related travel expenses in such a way that it does not put a financial burden on the company or employees. This policy provides guidelines on how to submit work-related travel requests and reimbursement requests. Having a travel policy can help you create a well- defined system to reimburse employees and manage costs effectively and promptly. You can also include a list of company-approved airlines and accommodation facilities that employees should use to keep travel costs reasonable. 10. Ethics Policy: This gives general guidelines on employees’ social and fiduciary responsibilities. It establishes the best ways to interact with co-workers and customers. In addition, it contributes to defining the company culture. The ethics policy also outlines best practices to handle ethical challenges that employees may face regarding accounting, social media, harassment and discrimination, health and safety, and technology and privacy.11, Compensation and Benefits Policy: This policy covers the monetary rewards and other benefits a company provides to its employees in exchange for their work. It can help you create a compensation strategy that aligns with your budget and attracts the best talent. How to develop company policies as an employer Here are of steps you can take if you are looking to create workplace policies for your business: * Check out common workplace policies and determine which policies fit your company’s culture, language, and circumstances. * Observe how things are running at your workplace and identify any areas that could use improvement. For example, you can ask managers if employees are violating any unwritten rules in a way that hampers results. If so, note down that issue in the “company policy idea” pile. * Get your management team together and think of all the different areas and issues that your company policy needs to address. This can help you to include clauses that protect both the company’s and employees’ best interests and prevent anyone from finding loopholes. Publish the company policy in the employee handbook. Distribute the employee handbook to all employees when they join the company. Update and revise your company policies as necessary and in accordance with province, territory, .and national laws and regulations. * Notify all employees whenever you update or add a new policy to the employee handbook. You can notify employees via email, company newsletter, or ask supervisors to make an announcement. Ready to get started? 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