Introduction
Your company policies on safety, compliance and professional behavior reflect your business’s values. With clear guidelines in place, employees see your commitment to creating a positive work environment.
Writing company policies for employees takes time, research and some legal expertise. You must carefully consider how you’ll set rules and handle infractions. Fortunately, the following tips and examples of company policies will help you craft a detailed code of conduct for a safe, happy work setting.
What’s a Company Policy?
A company policy spells out rules about workplace safety, compliance and professional behavior. It also includes procedures for escalating violations to HR or business leaders. These documents typically live in an employee handbook for easy reference.
The Importance of Defining Company Policies
Establishing company policies supports consistency and fairness in the workplace by holding everyone accountable to the same regulations. They set expectations for how employees should act toward one another and outline disciplinary actions for compliance issues. And thoughtful, inclusive policies instill confidence in team members, helping them feel comfortable in an environment that respects their health, safety and rights.
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9 Company Policy Examples
Your business’s guidelines will be unique to your specific needs and circumstances, but here’s a list of nine policies that are common in most employee handbooks.
1. Health and Safety Policy
Every employer must promote their employees’ health and safety. Here are some policies that ensure a safe and healthy work environment:
- OSHA compliance: References all OSHA regulations relevant to the work environment.
- Incident response plans: Detailed plans for what to do during a workplace emergency or incident.
- Working hour limits: Expectations and restrictions for how long employees should work.
- Violation procedures: Guidelines for how to report unsafe behavior to the appropriate people.
2. Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
U.S. labor laws require employers to treat job candidates equally, without racial, gender or ethnic discrimination. This policy ensures that employers consider all individuals fairly, and there are severe consequences for violating it. To comply, your employment contracts, application process and employee handbook must meet all the requirements set by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
3. Employee Behavior and Conduct Policy
Ideally, you can trust you’ve hired people with integrity who know how to make good decisions. But some misconduct like harassment and discrimination must be strictly prohibited to create clear workplace expectations. Your code of conduct should outline what constitutes acceptable behavior and the disciplinary actions employees should expect if they fail to comply.
4. Attendance and Punctuality Policy
Employers rely on team members during regular working hours to manage meetings, events and collaborative projects accordingly. To set expectations, your code of conduct should outline regular working hours, a paid time off policy and vacation days so everyone is on the same schedule.
5. Social Media Policy
Marketing teams work hard to establish a social media presence that reflects the business’s brand and speaks to your target audience. Poorly worded posts can quickly eliminate all the goodwill your social accounts have built. A social media policy helps you avoid this by setting guidelines about what employees can and can’t share online.
6. Device Usage Policy
If your employees use company devices to complete their work, you must have policies and procedures for procuring and returning those items. Without documented rules, your IT department can be overwhelmed with questions about how to request or install equipment.
7. Confidentiality Policy
Your employee handbook should include clear guidelines about what constitutes confidential information. If you have an internal knowledge base, for example, you should set a policy declaring whether employees can share it with potential clients and outside contractors. These guidelines prevent team members from committing accidental compliance violations.
8. Remote Work Policy
If you allow remote work, outline the expectations employees must meet when they’re offsite. For example, a remote work policy typically includes guidelines for security compliance, such as only using secure internet connections. Also, define how remote work impacts working hours so people can adjust their schedules accordingly.
9. Policy Review Procedure
Policy documents must include a process for updating as the business grows. Employees should be encouraged to give feedback and start a review. Even if a rule stays the same, this input ensures everyone's voice is valued.
How To Write Company Policies: 7 Steps
Writing policies that support employee well-being and foster a positive work environment takes time, legal input and careful planning. Here's a streamlined, step-by-step process to cover all the essential details.
1. Start With a Company Policy Template
Select a template that outlines what you need to capture in your company policy document. The company policy template from the Scribe Gallery is a great starting point — it includes sections for everything you’ll need, such as roles, procedures and compliance information.
2. Customize a Template
Add relevant sections to your template to customize it for your specific policy. This step varies depending on your industry, so start with the basics listed above. Then, add additional regulations and safety protocols relevant to your business.
3. Define the Policy’s Ideal Results
Summarize what you want the policy to achieve. For example, you could preface the “Employee Behavior and Conduct” policy with: “The following policies define acceptable conduct in the workplace and discourage harassment, discrimination and unprofessional behavior.” These overarching goals will help craft more detailed guidelines.
4. Research Legal Requirements
Conduct research about the legal regulations related to the policy. If you have a legal team, bring them in for input. Make sure you add links to government websites that outline relevant regulations. Here are a few U.S. organizations to start with:
- U.S. Department of Labor
- U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
5. Write Policies
With objectives and legal requirements in mind, write a comprehensive, clear policy. Ensure your rules don’t contradict each other and that any disciplinary action you prescribe is fair and enforceable.
6. Determine Procedures
Write the procedures for enforcing your policies, such as the correct steps for reporting concerns to HR. To make these instructions clear and actionable, use Scribe to automatically generate process documents.
7. Finalize documentation
Compile your documents into a cohesive code of conduct or employee handbook that recipients can print or access online. Before sharing the documentation, have a legal expert review it to ensure you’ve covered everything and no language introduces legal risk.
Document Company Procedures With Scribe
Any procedures you implement in your company policy must be clear and actionable so employees feel empowered to report harassment, discrimination or unsafe working conditions before issues escalate.
With Scribe, you can get ahead of problems by adding valuable procedure guidelines that include screenshots and actionable instructions to make each step clear.
Scribe’s AI-powered features take over tedious tasks like drafting and documenting procedures, so you can spend more time on the creative parts of the process. Try the AI Document Generator to get a head start on your company policy creation.
