Human resource policies are guidelines and rules put down by a company’s Human Resource Management Department to dictate issues concerning the management of employees. These policies offer guidance on issues like hiring, training, performance assessment and reward of employees. They also cover employee punishment and ways of resolving misunderstandings between bosses and workers among other issues related to labor provision.
Large and established firms will most likely have their policies in order at any moment but that is not always the case with new or smaller businesses. A new company may go on hiring and neglect to have any HR policies in place or a small company may feel like there are more pressing matters to attend to. This leaves the company vulnerable if any issues concerning employee right are brought to court.
With different firms having different goals and strategies, the Human Resource policies will vary. Another factor that will influence the look of a company’s HR policies includes the location of the company.
Purpose of Human resource policies
HR policies serve several purposes in an organization:
They provide a fair base for which all employees are treated
They offer clear guidelines for conduct of managers and supervisors
They form a correct channel through which employers and employees can communicate
They are often the basis of employee handbook development
Types of HR Policies
There are various ways to classify HR policies, but the most common ones are according to the description and according to the source.
According to the source, we have four types of Human resource policies:
Originated policies originate from the company’s management and are for guiding the employees
Implicit or implied policies are those that are not officially communicated to the employee either through written or verbal ways but are obvious from the managers’ behavior and mannerism.
Imposed policies are usually caused by forces such as state and federal governments
Appealed policies are those policies that arise when a specific case isn’t covered by any previously formulated policy
On the basis of description, there are two types of policies:
General policies- these don’t fixate on any specific issue as opposed to
Specific policies-which relate to specific cases. Formulation of specific policies is however guided by the general policies.
Advantage of Human Resource Policies
Setting up HR policies is extremely beneficial to a company. Some of the benefits include:
Decision making is easier even for the “smaller” managers and supervisors
They minimize bias as it provides a uniform platform upon which all employees are judged on
