Guidelines and rules are important parts of a company's structure. Understanding their distinct meanings helps you establish clear company policies, procedures and best practices. 

Explore the differences between guidelines versus rules to learn when to use each.

What’s a Guideline?

Guidelines are expected practices for completing a task, but they’re not set in stone. For example, managers may set a guideline that team members should aim to respond to emails within 24 hours. This wouldn’t require oversight, and there’d be no repercussions if someone didn’t respond to a message within that window — it’s just a best practice. 

The Benefits of Defined Guidelines

Clear guidelines establish company norms and provide a proven path forward. Here are the most impactful benefits of these helpful roadmaps:

• Clarify expectations: Defining the organization’s standards for different tasks allows employees to align their efforts with the company’s goals.
• Provide a convenient framework: While guidelines aren’t mandatory, they offer practical solutions for everyday issues and help people make smarter decisions.
• Promote consistency: Following best practices ensures everyone in the company responds to problems and completes tasks similarly, leading to predictable outcomes.
• Set new hires up for success: Guidelines help new employees understand your quality standards and processes so they can acclimate faster.
• Improve culture: Employees who respect guidelines value similar efforts from others, fostering better working relationships.

What’s a Rule?

Rules are formal regulations about company operations and employee behavior. Because rules typically address sensitive topics like employee conduct, discrimination and data privacy, they’re mandatory and enforceable.

Often, rules work in conjunction with company policies. While policies outline broad approaches, rules provide specific instructions on how employees should behave. For example, an Employee Attendance Policy may say that workers should come in on time, but the rules directly state that employees must arrive at 9:00 a.m.

The Benefits of Transparent Rules

From promoting legal compliance to upholding organizational values, here are the top advantages of creating clear organizational rules:

• Mitigate legal risks: Defined rules help your employees understand regulations and act accordingly, boosting compliance.
• Improve relationships: Outlining rules can guide employee behavior and prevent conflicts, leading to a better work environment.
• Increase customer satisfaction: Rules ensure that employees deliver a consistent level of service, which helps customers know what to expect. This builds trust and reliability.
• Promote organizational values: Enforcing rules aligns your business with its purpose and mission, creating a strong company that practices what it preaches. 
• Boost brand reputation: Prioritizing rules — like fair employee treatment and data safety — helps your company stand alongside competitors and uphold your reputation.

What’s the Difference Between Guidelines and Rules?

While they serve different organizational needs, the critical difference between guidelines and rules is their level of formality.

Rules are enforceable, and companies can discipline employees who violate them. For example, a hiring manager who disregards an applicant because of their age breaks antidiscrimination rules, and the organization may reprimand or fire them.

On the other hand, guidelines are recommendations that are encouraged, not enforced. They advise employees on company best practices but aren’t formal, so there are no disciplinary actions when workers don’t follow them. Say a customer support agent doesn’t use the suggested phone greeting when a customer calls. Customer service scripts are highly recommended and promote brand consistency, but agents won’t be punished for forgetting a line.

Other Similar Terms: Policy vs. Procedure vs. Standard

Beyond guidelines and rules, people use many other work terms interchangeably. Below, we’ll define the differences between policies, procedures and standards.

Policy

Company policies outline organizational practices and expectations, enforcing laws and internal company culture. 

While these regulations are often built to comply with industry regulations, there are many ways to accomplish this, and each business can have unique policies. For example, organizations must handle customer data safely but may establish their own practices as long as they obey the law.

Procedure

The main difference between procedures versus guidelines is the level of detail involved. Guidelines provide general advice, while standard operating procedures (SOPs) describe step-by-step instructions for completing work tasks from start to finish. SOPs capture how your company operates, establish a firm quality standard and help new hires ramp up quickly.

Company procedures are often called work instructions, and although the two are very similar, they have minute differences. Work instructions break tasks down and describe even minor details, while SOPs provide straightforward steps. For example, an SOP would say, “Copy the text,” but work instructions would say, “Highlight the text, right-click it and hit the Copy button.”

Standard

Business standards refer to a company’s norms and quality expectations. They can be minor or major, ranging from dress code requirements to data protection standards. 

Depending on the topic, standards may be recommended or mandatory. Companies may hold IT customer support to specific speed standards, for instance, but failure to meet these times isn’t grounds for immediate termination or reprimand. But if a business follows data protection standards, they can discipline employees who cause a security breach.

Enhance Organizational Documentation With Scribe

Guidelines and rules improve performance, compliance and transparency. If you’re ready to create your own, use Scribe to speed up the process. 

Start by customizing our company policy and step-by-step guide templates to suit your needs. Once you’ve written policies, rules, procedures and guidelines, use Scribe Pages to include them all inside one convenient employee handbook. Share this knowledge base through a link, or embed it in existing documents for easy access.

Sign up for Scribe for free and set your team up for success.

FAQs

What’s the Purpose of Rules and Guidelines?

Both rules and guidelines set clear expectations for how employees should behave. Rules outline necessary precautions, guide decision-making and ensure compliance with laws. And guidelines offer proven strategies to help employees complete tasks.

What Are Examples of Guidelines?

Guidelines are company recommendations that help employees complete tasks more effectively. For instance, a content production team may suggest writers and editors read an article out loud. This allows them to check for fluency and flow, but it isn’t required.

Another example is a guideline that suggests HR managers review SOPs every six months, even though updates aren’t required until the end of the year.

Are Guidelines Mandatory? 

No, guidelines aren’t required, but they are recommended. Having a list of verified best practices allows employees to do their jobs effectively. And guidelines encourage transparency by letting the company share their expectations with team members.

What Are Examples of Rules?

Rules are enforced instructions and must be followed. Say a company has a specific dress code with rules on which garments you’re allowed to wear. Employees who wear improper clothing may get written up for the offense.

What’s the Difference Between Policies vs. Guidelines?

The difference between policies and guidelines is that the former is a regulation that supports company beliefs and laws, while the latter are suggestions that employees don’t strictly need to follow. 

But guidelines often stem from policies. For instance, an organization’s employee code of conduct may require friendly collaboration. In that case, they could create an accompanying guideline that encourages celebrating your peers and giving positive feedback.