Policies and Procedures set the guidelines and parameters for almost all organizations. They are created to bring some discipline in the organization and within the employees and provide a consistent approach to manage the issues in the workplace. Procedures involve promoting appropriate behavior in the workplace, a peaceful environment, efficiency, fairness, and ensures a safe and secure workplace.
Disobedience to these practices can have serious consequences like affecting the harmony in the workplace, financial losses, penalties putting the company’s reputation and brand at stake. Hence it is important to provide a clear understanding and visibility of these procedures to all the employees.
Having an effective strategy and control in place for employees to follow the procedures, not only enhances the quality of the organization’s products and services but also improves the company’s reputation.
Having the right team in the organization to ensure that the employees follow the procedures and protocols on time can be a tedious process. It becomes difficult to babysit and badger each and every employee manually and keep track if they are following the rules.
Here are some simple steps which will make it easier to enforce your company’s policies and procedures are being followed across the board:
- Documentations & Training:
It is a good practice to maintain a formal document that covers all the company’s legal policies and the work structure. Expecting employees to remember the procedures by providing verbal instructions is a bit impractical.
Hence the very first step while onboarding an employee is to provide a basic induction and handouts which cover a brief description of all the company’s legal policies and work structure.
To make sure that employees have followed the instructions from the handouts, it is also important to maintain a record of their signatures on a formal letter. Apart from the paperwork, companies should also organize training for the employees and managers to understand their roles and responsibilities better.
Making use of training software that provides e-learning courses that cover all the values, policies and procedures can be very effective. Taking this training from time to time can help the employees be up to date with the company’s regulations.
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Explaining why the procedures are important:
One would never take the responsibility seriously until and unless one knows about the serious repercussions of not following it. In order to make employees understand their responsibilities, a deeper reason on why to follow them must be provided.
They should know Why adhering to the procedures is important and part of their job.
This can be covered both physically and digitally, that is, through verbal communications, handouts, and through training courses.
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Internal Audits:
To make sure that all the procedures are being followed in the workplace an internal audits can be conducted from time to time. Making use of the right software makes it much easier to monitor and log the activity of the employee.
At this point, a stronger approach and action could be necessary while monitoring key compliance points and following up if they’re not adhered to.
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Recognitions & Rewards:
To make the workplace more fun a program should be created to recognize the employees by rewarding them for their discipline and correct behavior. This can be a great motivation to the employees.
Acknowledging the efforts of the employees can create a positive work environment and boost the productivity of their work. When employees and their work are valued, they feel more motivated which facilitates the productivity and creativity of their work and the company.
Conclusion:
Having proper documentation and training courses in place, regular audits, and recognition programs it is not very difficult to ensure that the employees follow the procedures effectively. And it also creates a creative and productive workplace.
