When enforced, policies and procedures can create a friendly working environment and a safe workplace where everyone feels welcomed and valued. Examples of policies include recruitment policies, drug and alcohol policies, safety policies, discrimination and harassment and a code of conduct.

More recently, there have been other types such as the internet use policy or the bring your own device policies.  How effectively enforced policies are heavily depends on the environment and work culture that the company has created over the years. It also depends on the type of employees the organisation has hired as well as what kind of behaviour the higher-ups show to other staff in the company. 

How to enforce policies 

To enforce policies and procedures effectively, it is important for them to be easily accessible to all employees. This is the first step in encouraging employees to abide by all policies in the workplace. If employees can’t find the policies, then they might not know what to do when a situation arises. Here are some other necessary steps the company must take: 

1. Communicate with staff

2. Make policies part of onboarding 

3. Explain to employees what policies are relevant to their job 

4. Involve employees in the policy-making process 

5. Focus on training 

6. Monitor and review when needed

7. Enforce policies equally 

8. Lead by example 

1. Communicate with staff 

If you are looking to enforce your company policies then you need to talk with your employees. When new policies are created, it is essential to communicate with all employees and explain the purpose of the policy to them. Why was the policy created? What will it offer to the workplace? How will it improve the current state of work? Communicating all aspects of the policy with employees is needed so they understand what they have to comply with. Offering them examples where the policy may be used is another way of helping them understand exactly what this policy is about.

The next step is to explain the expectations when it comes to this policy. This will make it easier to enforce it. What will be the consequences if this policy is not complied with? What is the disciplinary process that will follow? Employees have to know the importance of the policy and why it is in place. 

If employees have questions then encourage them to come forward with any inquiries they have. On top of questions, they might also have feedback that they want to provide and that is very beneficial as it will help the company strengthen the policy with the help of the staff. 

2. Make policies part of onboarding 

To enforce policies, it is necessary to make them part of the onboarding process. If policies are not part of the onboarding process, then it is advisable to review it and include them before the next person joins. When a new person joins the company, they get a lot of information. Part of the information needs to be the policy and procedures they need to comply with so they know what to expect.

It’s not enough to tell the newcomer “Hey the policies are there, please read them”. The HR manager is responsible for ensuring that the new employee reads the policies, understands them and if they have any questions they have chances to ask them directly to the HR manager. 

3. Explain to employees what policies are relevant to their job 

Every company will be in a different situation: it will be in a different industry, of different size, and have different needs. The set of policies they will have for them to work effectively and create a better environment for their employees will vary.

For example, Polonious has a lot of policies focused on information security as part of our ISO27001 accreditation, but no policies around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like you would find in a manufacturing business.

This also means that the policies an organisation creates need to align with the goals they are trying to achieve. When a new policy is created, explain to employees why it was created and how it is relevant to the specific industry that they work in. Having irrelevant policies in place may confuse employees and make them lose respect for the company that they work for. For example, a bring-your-own-device policy may not apply in a mining business. 

4. Involve employees in the policy-making process 

Policies can be enforced easier if employees get a say in how they are developed. If you’re looking to create new policies then it’s a smart idea to involve employees in the policy-making process. Sometimes, allowing higher-up staff to create policies is not the most effective way of creating something meaningful. Involving employees of all levels within the organisation will ensure that everyone is represented and they understand what is being asked of them, and it ensures the policy takes into account the realities of their jobs rather than being unrealistic and thus ignored.

There’s no better way to make them understand than to speak to them, and get their feedback and ideas when creating something new. This also helps when creating a more welcoming culture as employees feel listened to and they know their opinion is valued and wanted. 

Involving employees in this process may also help in making policies easier to read and simpler. 

5. Focus on training 

One of the best ways to enforce policies is to train employees as regularly as possible to ensure that they still know what the expectations are and what they need to comply with. Over time, employees may forget what the company stands for and what exactly they need to comply with. Training also allows external people to come into the company and explain their perspective on the company policies (for example Inclusivity and diversity), train employees by sharing their experience and give them real life scenarios where the policy could be applied to.

This will give employees a different approach and help them reinforce their understanding of the policies that are in place. Sometimes it’s not enough for the human resource manager to tell employees to read the policies themselves. The organisation will need to step up and take action to ensure that all mandatory training has been undertaken and all employees feel comfortable with what the company expects of them. 

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6. Monitor and review when needed 

As mentioned before, companies have different needs. These needs may change over time and the policies set at the founding of the company may no longer be relevant. This is especially true now when technology is advancing so quickly. Social media, BYOD, internet and online safety policies were not as popular a few years ago as they are now. If the policies are outdated, they are harder to enforce. Policies are living, breathing documents that the company will need to look at regularly and monitor their effectiveness. If they are no longer effective, the company will need to seek feedback on how to improve them. 

Part of this process involves creating metrics that will measure whether the policies are effective and whether implementation was successful. The organisation will need to conduct surveys, hold meetings and collect as much feedback as possible from different people that will give them various perspectives on what the next step is. Doing this process regularly will help them identify any weaknesses or problems and find out whether there are new policies that are currently missing. It sounds easy in theory but in a survey, 41% of organisations listed that updating company policies is a compliance challenge.

7. Enforce policies equally 

If you’re looking to enforce policies then consistency is key. Employees need to be treated equally regardless of what their position is, what their level is, or their role within the company. If an employee sees that another colleague is getting better treatment than them when it comes to enforcing a policy, they will be less likely to comply with the policies and they may seek new employment. This is because they feel wronged, they feel like they were not fairly treated and another colleague was let off too easily compared to them. The way a company enforces a policy for one employee provides a standard of how they need to enforce a policy for another employee. 

If the organisation thinks that it didn’t do a good job when it came to enforcing a policy, then it needs to express its decision in an email and clearly communicate to employees where it messed up. This will prevent future misunderstandings when an employee is treated differently. If a company messes up, owns up to their mistake, and is able to come forward and express that they want to do something different in the future, then employees know what to expect.

Learning how to enforce policies takes time 

There are many ways to enforce policies and procedures. Finding the right way that works for your organisation may take time and you might not get it right the first time. If you’re currently dealing with non-compliance, just know that our customers have been in the same place as well. 

When it comes to investigating non-compliance, our clients rely on Polonious to help them investigate incidents and make the whole process a better experience for them and their team. We help investigators by giving them a safe storage space to upload their documents, conduct interviews and get automatic progress updates. 

While our system can be accessed from anywhere, anytime, only those responsible can have access to the right information. We are ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, highlighting our commitment to providing our customers with a high-quality and secure system. Do you want to learn more about how we can help you? Book a demo today!