Whether you have 10 people walking in the door for work or 1000, they all bring with them their dreams, hopes, values, frustrations, problems and their desire to make their career the best it can be. People bring with them every experience they have ever had, and their perception of what that experience has meant to them, good or bad.  Most of them will react to everyday situations based on those experiences, putting a wrapper around the situation based on what they believe it means to them.

Witnessing the human dynamic can be both awe inspiring and difficult, depending on what is playing out at any given time within the organization.  You will have motivated and non-motivated employees, you will have great leaders and managers who are biding their time.  There will be people with good intentions and the odd one with not-so-good intentions.

And this is why every company needs to have policies and procedures in place with strict adherence to them.

For the routine actions and for the unusual actions that will occur in any company, a set of guidelines for both employee and employer provide clarity and help avoid miscommunication.

First, the best place to start is to look at your Provincial or State labour standards or code.  These are the guidelines you as an employer must uphold, it is the law in the place where you live.  It is also the job of every manager in your company to know what these are; are you helping them?  Small companies without a solid HR presence will especially need to know what the rules are.

Second, you need to protect the company and your employees from harm.  Harm includes law suits, security issues, labour problems and safety.  There are clear guidelines in all of these areas as well.  Do your homework, make sure you know what your rights are and make sure you know the rights of your employees.  A company handbook can include some of these items.

Third, you need to understand what processes you as a company wish to work within, basically; “What are my manager’s supposed to do and what are they allowed to do within these walls and how do I want them to accomplish it?”  AND “What are my employees supposed to do and how do I want them to accomplish that?”

Many companies are unaware of how important their own policies and procedures are.

Executive team, not everyone ‘works like you and thinks like you.’

I know a lot of companies are weary trying to keep up with the legislated pieces and want to apply more of the budget to operations rather than HR.  However, HR, when given the right direction and authority, have the ability to save the company many dollars in the long run.

From vacations to stress leave, from benefits to complaints, without a solid set of procedures to access and the guidelines of what to do, your employees will be scrambling for answers and wanting support.  In most companies employees want their immediate manager to have both the answers and the authority to make a difference for them.  Have you prepared your management team to handle all they will need to handle when they encounter a difficult situation or event, a budgetary shift, a grievance?  Have you prepared your HR team to take on what the manager cannot?  Have you outlined the differences in their roles?  Are you tracking attrition, complaints, costs of transition, and more?  Have you outlined the overall ‘behavioural intolerance level’ your company will not accept and what happens when they arise? If not, you have some work to do.

It is easy to make the assumption your staff understands how you want the company to run, after all, you are there every day and you are showing them how to do it.  Be cautious, leader, these people need things clearly laid out, eliminate as much opportunity for misinterpretation of your desires as possible.  Empower your staff to make decisions without you because the policy or procedure is spelled out in a way that supports your teams and protects your organization.  But be aware, this is not a quick task or a two month answer, you will need facilitation and direction through about 18 months to two years of development if this is the first time you have embarked on such a task and you have more than 20 employees.

Give your Managers and HR department the tools and the power to make a difference for you and for your staff.  Develop a company where everyone knows what support looks like and your teams are empowered to shine.

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Patti Blackstaffe works with people and organizations to develop
Happy Workplaces world-wide guiding them toward mastery and leadership
through consulting, advising, coaching, speaking, and delivering training.

You can reach Patti at 1-855-968-5323

Contact us here to book for Idea Sessions, Change Management, Executive Coaching or Team Development.

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