Tips to Writing a Policy Statement for your Business

Writing a policy statement requires a concrete and involving plan with the business’ decision makers

last updated Saturday, March 30, 2024
#Policies and Procedures #Business Policies

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John Burson

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CONTENTS

As a small business owner, you need to create policies and procedures to guide employee interactions and behaviour in the office. With a policy statement, you can communicate your expectations for the workplace. Spending time preparing an official statement helps your expectations for everyone who works in the office.

Start by identifying behaviour that needs to change

Your policy statement can address a wide range of issues, such as dressing or a vacation policy. Choose a specific focus area, begin working on it, and gradually build on it to include more information when necessary.

Bring together a team of your employees to help with the development of the policy.

Ideally, the team should include the founders of the business, the human resource team, and the business manager. Additionally, you should include a business attorney who will guide you towards creating a policy within the law.

Define the purpose of the business policy and the information you will include therein.

Based on everyone's input, create an outline of points you want to include and examine each point to ensure it’s thorough. For example, if you are looking to create a dress code policy, it should include a list of appropriate and inappropriate outfits for both male and female employees. 

Choose a person responsible for the final writing of the policy 

Entrust them with all the notes from your meetings to help them create the first draft of the policy. In the policy, the writer should state the purpose of the policy, the employees affected, the date the policy goes into force, plus any enforcement necessary.

As a team, set a meeting to review the draft policy statement

Give feedback, identify any policy statements that may be against the law or the spirit of the organization, and modify them accordingly to make the final policy.

Release the policy to the business's employees.

In some cases, you may want to request a special meeting to discuss the policy with employees and go through it together as a team. The meeting also gives you an opportunity to respond to any questions your employees may have and clarify any concerns they may have.

 
 
 

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