Introduction
Policies and procedures both contribute to smooth operations and consistent quality — but in unique ways. Policies are organizational standards and regulations, while procedures are the instructions that help people follow these rules. By understanding the differences, you can create resources that enhance task clarity, employee performance and company compliance.
Read on to learn more about what differentiates policies vs. procedures and how to create each one.
What’s a Policy?
Policies are formal organizational guidelines that help employees understand company values, objectives and methods without going into step-by-step detail. For example, a paid leave policy could tell employees how many vacation days they have, but it won’t list instructions on how to contact HR and request leave.
While policies are generally broad, they shouldn’t be vague. Offer enough detail so the policy clearly describes organizational standards. Your message should be understandable, reducing confusion and enhancing consistency.
What’s a Procedure?
Procedures, also called standard operating procedures (SOPs), are process documents that describe a workflow from start to finish. By clearly detailing the steps and expectations for each task, procedure documentation helps employees maintain company standards and work efficiently.
Say you’re writing an SOP for conducting performance evaluations. This document can detail steps like gathering examples of past work and creating development goals. That way, managers understand how to assess their direct reports fairly and complete this task consistently across their team.
Policy vs. Procedure: An Overview
Policies are broad company standards, while procedures list granule steps for completing a task. Often, these steps outline ways to comply with a policy’s organizational guidelines.
Take our Attendance Policy template — it states that employees should follow call-in procedures but doesn’t describe the steps to do so.
A corresponding SOP would explain precisely how employees should call in and who to talk to. This document can also list different steps depending on the type of absence, such as sick days, vacation time or maternity leave.
By pairing these two resources, companies have a comprehensive outline of company expectations and values.
Why Are Policies and Procedures Important?
Policies and SOPs help teams understand and maintain organizational quality standards. Here are a few benefits of creating these documents:
- Improved alignment: Employees who know what leaders expect are more efficient and confident in their work. And clarity reduces errors and misunderstandings, preventing unnecessary back-and-forth messages with managers.
- Defined organizational culture: Policies and procedures reinforce the company’s values by outlining expected behaviors. This creates a cohesive and positive work environment.
- Greater objectivity: Standardizing expectations across a company helps leaders make consistent decisions, reducing the likelihood of favoritism and bias.
- Faster employee onboarding: Policies and procedures clearly outline company practices so new hires understand their duties faster. Plus, SOPs often list additional resources, like FAQ sections, to help employees answer their own questions.
- Higher compliance: Well-written policies and procedures take regulatory requirements into account. Following these guidelines makes companies less likely to face legal issues, fines and penalties.
How To Create Policies and Procedures: 3 Steps
Here are our top three best practices for writing successful policies and procedures.
1. Identify Your Policy Needs
Start by deciding which policies to update. Focus on guidelines that enhance compliance and clarify expectations, such as conflict resolution, customer confidentiality and onboarding. After selecting a policy to focus on, define its purpose and objectives so employees understand the intended outcomes.
Say you want to update your conflict resolution policy to outline how employees should address disagreements with coworkers. The ultimate goal is to foster a more collaborative work environment, so the new policy could ask workers to discuss issues directly with their colleagues and, if necessary, escalate to a supervisor.
2. Review Crucial Legal Information
If applicable, review employment laws related to your policy. This helps you understand legal requirements and ensures you follow regulations.
For conflict resolution, HR teams can analyze labor laws regarding harassment, discrimination and employee privacy. This knowledge helps supervisors address conflicts appropriately.
3. Build In-Depth Procedures
After outlining policies, it’s important to pair them with procedures so teams have clear directions on how to meet company expectations. To write accurate instructions, collect as much information as possible from current employees by asking about their regular tasks and how to complete them. Another resource to explore is past SOPs to see how employees have previously handled similar responsibilities.
In the case of the conflict resolution policy, here’s a quick example of procedural steps an employee might follow:
- Acknowledge the issue: Recognize the conflict and gather relevant facts about the problem.
- Start a conversation: Arrange a meeting with your colleague so you can share your concerns. Use “I” statements to keep the discussion neutral.
- Propose solutions: Come to the meeting prepared to suggest changes that would solve the conflict.
- Ask for support if needed: If the other party isn’t receptive to solving the issue, contact your supervisor to help facilitate the conversation.
To transform broad policies into detailed procedures, try documenting with Scribe. For example, in the SOP outline above, you can use Scribe to capture the conflict documentation process. Have an HR representative turn on our browser extension and fill out a conflict report form, take meeting notes and create a collaborative action plan. Scribe will capture each task and add it to a comprehensive written document with annotated screenshots to help HR teams solve future issues.
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How To Implement Policies and Procedures: 4 Steps
After defining these guidelines, the next step is introducing them to your company. Here are our top four tips for success.
1. Get Support From Relevant Parties
Since managers will enforce company standards, it’s important that leadership teams are all on the same page about employee expectations. Reach out to fellow leaders to ask for their opinions on your documents, using their insights and questions to refine these guidelines.
2. Distribute Policies and Procedures
Make sure every relevant team and department has access to new information. We recommend using a digital knowledge base rather than old-fashioned filing cabinets. Digitizing SOPs makes them available to everyone — even remote employees working in various locations. This also simplifies searching for, sending or editing information.
Another benefit of digital distribution is it prepares your organization for growth. Sharing paper procedures is slow, and updating physical documents is cumbersome, especially for large teams.
3. Train All Relevant Employees
Implement training sessions to discuss new guidelines and processes. These changes often need an explanation, especially if they involve complex legal issues or an extensive process rehaul.
Host an introductory meeting for your next company update and equip staff with Scribes to encourage quick, efficient adoption. Our AI tool automatically creates precise and detailed guides, using screenshots and text to explain new procedures to employees.
To verify that employees are using the new training materials and following updated standards, check out our metrics dashboard. It shows who recently accessed the updated SOPs, allowing you to monitor compliance and follow up with additional training sessions if needed.
4. Review and Update Regularly
Schedule a regular time to review and revise SOPs so they list methods that produce the most efficient outcomes. The first review should be a couple of months after implementation — this allows you to address issues teams encountered with the new process. After your procedure is part of everyday work life, check in annually to accommodate changes in business processes, technology and industry standards.
Note: One difference between policies and procedures is maintenance. It’s only essential to review your policies during significant organizational shifts, which happen less often than technology or process changes.
Build Effective Policies and Procedures With Scribe
Ultimately, creating both policies and procedures for your organization is the best way to clarify expectations. Policies reflect a company’s standards, while procedures offer the detailed instructions needed to implement these principles in day-to-day tasks.
Thankfully, Scribe is the perfect tool for both documentation types. Use our Company Policy template to define protocols without building a complex outline. And when you’re ready to pair those with procedures, just turn on our browser extension and perform a task as usual. Our AI procedure writer instantly creates a detailed step-by-step guide with annotated screenshots.
Sign up for Scribe and create actionable guides today!
