Workplace policies are an important part of any organisation’s governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) strategy. Compliance cannot be guaranteed without implementing the right policies and procedures in workplaces. Businesses across industries are required by law to create and deploy such policies. Generally, they are introduced as part of an employee’s induction process and re-deployed if there are organisational changes.
Automation can help organisations achieve this compliance goal relatively easily. This blog post discusses what these policies are and why compliance management software should include an HR policy builder.
What are HR Policies?
HR policies are the instruments used to communicate the standards of workplace conduct and behaviour to be observed by employees at your workplace. They work as a protocol that everyone must comply with. They guide all individuals on their roles and responsibilities in a given situation and the procedure to be followed in case of incidents.
These workplace policies can also be made available for suppliers and volunteers who engage with your business. Some examples of workplace policies include:
- Alcohol and drugs
- Anti-bullying
- Anti-harassment
- Child safety
- Code of conduct
- Conflict of interest
- Cyber security
- Environmental
- Equal employment opportunity
- Whistleblower
How does an HR Policy Builder work?
When creating a reliable GRC framework, organisations invest in creating these workplace policies. Compliance management software should also offer a list of previously built and legally endorsed policy templates.
A policy builder is a tool that helps organisations either develop their HR policies from scratch or adapt pre-built policy templates. It allows you to roll out the policies easily to new or existing employees as and when required.
How important is an HR policy builder for workplace compliance management software?
While creating or renewing the compliance framework in your workplace, you must invest a considerable amount of time and capital in developing HR policies. If you buy compliance management software that also includes a policy builder, this process can be done much more easily. Some of the benefits of a policy builder inside a compliance management software include:
Create customised policies
If your compliance management software provides pre-built HR policy templates, you only need to make slight changes to suit the exact requirements of your business. This is known as policy template customisation, and it can be done using a policy builder.
Saves time and costs
Since all features are available in one compliance management software, you save time and, therefore, money.
Easy to implement
Policies that are built or customised using the policy builder are easy to implement across the organisation as a part of the compliance management software—all employees, whether new or existing, can access them easily.
Enhanced employee awareness and better compliance
The target behind deploying HR policies is to enhance employee awareness to ensure better compliance. When employees know what actions to undertake in case of a risk or incident, non-compliance can be avoided.
What are the risks of not having workplace policies?
As workplace policies support better awareness and compliance, the biggest risk of not having them is non-compliance. Non-compliance can lead to heavy financial and operational losses. Further, without HR policies, your business is exposed to all types of industry and market risks when operations are disturbed. You may lose the competitive edge or incur heavy fines as a result of neglecting the importance of workplace HR policies.
Conclusion:
A governance, risk and compliance strategy can only be effective with the appropriate HR policies in place. Every organisation must invest in building and deploying effective HR policies and procedures in their workplace to ensure maximum compliance with the applicable laws and regulations. Sentrient’s workplace compliance management system helps businesses create new policies from scratch or adapt policy templates. Contact us for more information!