Are your workplace policies effective?

Having workplace policies serves as a good management tool to communicate to employees what the company considers is acceptable and unacceptable conduct. Workplace policies can be used to regulate such things as: discrimination and harassment; drug and alcohol use; email and internet use; workplace health and safety; redeployment and redundancy; grievances and dispute resolution.

The benefits of having effective workplace policies aren’t limited to providing employers with defences to claims of unfair dismissal or liability for workplace discrimination or harassment. They also extend to encouraging a work environment with high morale, stability and uniformity.

In making sure workplace policies are effective, it’s important they clearly define the behaviour the employer will and will not tolerate, and the consequences that will follow if the policies are breached. The punishment for breaching policies needs to comply with legislation and the relevant awards or agreements in place. Generally, punishments are disciplinary action involving warnings up to and including dismissal, or immediate dismissal where the breach is sufficiently serious to warrant this.

Policies also need to be clearly communicated to employees and measures taken to ensure that they understand the policies and the consequences, including when dismissal will be enforced. This can be achieved by having a written copy of the policy available and providing refresher training annually. New employees must be trained in relation to company policies upon induction to the workplace. Employees should also sign a training record for attending training.

Once policies are in place and communicated, employers need to consistently enforce them. For example, if an employer has a disciplinary procedure that requires three warnings be given before dismissal, it’s vital that no steps are missed and that the procedure is applied consistently with all employees.

Key Point: Policies are worthless unless they are legally compliant; employees are trained in relation to them and they’re enforced by the employer.