Documenting Your Policies
By Michele Blandino
Employee grievances are typically associated with labor unions, large companies and other organized groups, yet it is the small employer who most often finds that they need to frequently deal with employee-related issues.
The Small Business Atmosphere
There are a number of reasons for this. Certainly the dynamics of a small company are far different from larger organizations. With employees usually situated in close proximity to each other, they have more opportunities to observe their co-workers' work habits. Additionally, the informal atmosphere that is typical of many small businesses often makes it difficult for some employees to consistently remain motivated. However, because there are fewer people in the organization, there is less of a chance that employees who are consistent "slackers" can remain under the radar for long periods of time. As a result, so that they can attempt to maintain a positive work environment for the rest of the staff, small-business owners usually find that they need to deal with troublesome employees far more quickly than their big-business counterparts. The problem is, they often don't know how to proceed.
An Example
Take, for instance, the employer who has an employee who consistently arrives to work 10 minutes late each morning and then, rather than getting right to work, spends the next fifteen minutes drinking coffee and surfing the Internet. The other employees begin to take notice and become increasingly resentful of this employee's behavior. The employer, sensing that office morale is suffering, finally speaks to the employee in question about their tardiness.
What happens next is largely affected by whether or not the employer has documented their human resource policies in an employee manual. If the policies, including provisions for non-compliance, are documented, chances are the employee will begin to adhere to the rules and become more punctual. If, on the other hand, the rules are not documented, there is a good chance that the employee will continue to come and go as they please and in the process, further destroy office morale.
Why Documenting Makes Sense
Having your policies in writing will not only give you leverage with this type of employee it can also will help to keep you from having to spend time and money defending yourself in wrongful termination lawsuits. Further, letting employees know what the expectations are can greatly reduce the chances that problems such as the one described above will occur.
Do-it-Yourself
Putting together a human resource manual does not need to be a difficult process, in fact, thanks to templates that are readily available for purchase, most employers can do it on their own. Here are just a few that are available: