Why Good Company Policies Are Better For Business
Guest post
A guide. A predetermined course of action. A blueprint to handling decisions. Your company’s policies. While policies may seem like mere rules for employees and anyone engaged with the company to follow, they do serve a bigger goal. And that is to help you enhance the way you do business, and in the process, allow you to maximise its full potential.
Well-written company policies can help you implement internal controls that allow your employees to know what is expected from them; it will ease your management employees’ jobs because they do not need to micro-manage workers; it will help you to achieve national and global standards (i.e., policies on equal employment opportunity or policies on working with children), and it will allow you to control costs because the best policies indicate possible sources of risks when, for instance, choosing suppliers or vendors.
In addition to the general policies on things like contractor management, on return to work, on records and document management, on training, on responsibilities and accountabilities, and the like, today’s business environment has also prompted the need for Internet and email use at the workplace as well as social media interaction.
Having the appropriate company policy for specific issues can help you resolve problems. Whether it’s by addressing remote worker responsibilities or by having a clear and definitive policy on drug and alcohol use in the workplace, your policies help to settle issues the right and efficient way. And you avoid potential and costly legal disputes.
The appropriate policies can also help you gain more business. Policies not only allow you to steer your company in the right direction, when used as independent documents. But policies may also be requested along with other requirements for when you bid for certain projects. Potential clients could ask you to submit, for instance, your policies on records and document management or your OHS policy. By having well-written and sufficient policies for every aspect of your company, you will be able to meet stringent requirements on lucrative bids.
Coming up with policies that address every aspect of your business, that also comply with certain standards, and that fully aim to meet your company’s vision and mission may be fairly complex and time-consuming. The complexity can also widen when you happen to be in a high-risk industry, such as construction and road works. If that’s the case, your policies will need to address hazardous work and incident reporting, among others.
But your policies are well worth the investment. Fortunately, you can gain access to a variety of documents by choosing a reputable online supplier of policies — so you need not start from scratch.
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