Writing Policy and/or Procedures Video write-up: MAN 4301 and MAN 4162

For the purposes of this video, I will address writing both policies and procedures even though the HR Management course will only be tasked with writing policy statements. The Customer Relations course will write a policy with procedures. I will also be using Valencia College policies as examples, and you are welcome to follow their easy format. There are many ways to write policies, but policies are not meant to be written as a narrative as we will discuss further. Define policy…Wikipedia defines a policy as:

Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies used in subjective decision-making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result, are often hard to test objectively, e.g., work–life balance policy. In contrast, policies to assist in objective decision-making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested, e.g., password policy.

1. Policy vs. Procedures: a. As noted in the definition, a policy is a “statement of intent” while the procedures outline how that

statement will be implemented. i. For example, here is the policy statement from Valencia’s Total Rewards-Benefit policy:

“In order to attract, motivate, develop, and retain employees who contribute to student success, the College shall offer health insurance programs and may provide opportunities for wellness as permitted by applicable law, rule, College policy or procedure. These programs are designed to promote an atmosphere of well-being for employees by supporting and encouraging their health and wellness. The President, or designee(s), may adopt programs and establish procedures to implement this policy.”

b. The policy statement is high level and answers: What, Why, and Who (overall employees) c. Procedures answer: How, Who (broken out, i.e., staff vs. administrators)

2. For MAN 4301 – you see why you will only be creating policy statements for each section in the HR Policy.

Larger organizations and most businesses would have separate policies along with procedures for each of those sections, but you won’t need to do that for this portfolio project. The Checklist and Guide for Writing Policy/Procedures will provide question prompts to guide you with writing your policy statements.

3. Procedures vs. Desk Guides: a. Procedures dig deeper into the weeds and outline the steps needed to implement the policy statement

such as how to request leave of absence for example, what types of leave are available, etc. b. Desk guides on the other hand are only for the person in their job position or duties. These dig even

deeper into the weeds so that anyone can sit at that person’s desk and complete the tasks needed for his/her job. This deeper dive is not something employees need to know as they rely on that individual helping them to take care of it.

4. For MAN 4162 – Since you are only writing one policy, a Customer Service policy, you will need to include

procedures with your policy statement. The Checklist & Guide for Writing Policy/Procedures will help you achieve this with an exercise and question prompts to guide your writing.

5. Policies also should include a statement regarding who has the authority to implement procedures. A well-rounded statement may sound something like:

“The President, or designee(s), may adopt programs and establish procedures to implement this policy.” While most policies must go through an approval process by some governing body of the company such as the Board of Directors, most procedures do not; therefore, this is the reason why policy statements don’t do the deep dive into the “How” that the procedures do. Within your procedures, you may have a statement that delegates authority to the entity responsible for developing procedures such as the “Vice President of Human Resources or designee(s).”

Writing Policy and/or Procedures Video write-up: MAN 4301 and MAN 4162

6. Policy/Procedures Target Audience a. Depends on the policy but for the most part, the target audience is:

i. Customers/clients—again depends on the policy ii. Employees—to use as a guide for accomplishing certain tasks or to know what to do (i.e.,

grievance policies) iii. Supervisors—to use as a guide not only for themselves but for their employees

b. For this reason, policies should be easily navigated so people can find what they are looking for expeditiously. The easiest format is in outline form. Each section within the various pieces of the outline, however, should be written in paragraph form. Due to its versatile purpose, a narrative does not work well for a policy that is crafted for everyday use.

7. Why even have policies and procedures?

a. Mandated policies by the federal government such as FMLA, ADA, Sexual Harassment, and so many more are mandated by the federal government, so compliance is a major issue for businesses.

b. Legal issues can arise within any organization and those with a firm policy/procedure base can usually weather those storms.

c. Provides a clear structure for your target audience to follow with very little questions to have to address.

Always remember that policies and procedures are dynamic and must be reviewed and updated as needed on a regular basis. Obsolete policies can spell disaster for an organization. An organization with clear, up to date policies and procedures can focus on maintaining their competitive advantage rather than their next legal action to resolve.