Posted on March 19th, 2018
EVERY business owner in California should have a set of effective policies and procedures for their company. If you’re not sure where to start, you need to read this post.
Only 50% of businesses survive their first five years in business.
Now there are some well known factors that can predict the success of a company.
- Having the capital to help the business grow.
- Hiring great employees.
- Finding and retaining loyal customers.
But in the state of California. You need more than just the typical business rules to make it. Because in this state one employee lawsuit can wipe out everything!
That’s why its so critical to have specific policies and procedures that will help protect your company from this threat.
Not only do you need policies and procedures they need to be created in a specific way to insulate you and your business from a potentially devastating employee lawsuit.
If you’re unsure which policies you need, keep reading and we will go over some of the basics.
Hiring Policy
Finding great employees isn’t always easy. It’s also not cheap. Your goal is to find someone who can do their job well but also fits your company culture.
Make having a hiring policy a top priority when creating your policies and procedures. You’ll be glad you did.
Include behaviorally-based questions to eliminate any potential problems.
Your goal is to find out their true qualifications.
That includes experience, ability to communicate, interpersonal effectiveness, and technical capabilities.
Using the same basic questions makes it easier for you and your team to do a comparison with all potential candidates.
You can use these questions to analyze, assess, and notice their skills, experience, and possible cultural fit.
Never underestimate the importance of personality and disposition when screening new hires. Most people can be trained to do a job but if they have a difficult and confrontational personality its likely there to stay.
Employee Conduct
In a perfect world, everyone would behave like the mature professionals they are. In the real world, policies and procedures are necessary so that everyone understands the rules.
When creating a list of employee conduct rules, keep in mind that this acts as a guideline for appropriate employee behavior. Make sure it encompasses all types of behavior.
That includes stating what the proper dress code is for your place of business. Whether you’re a company that insists on suits and ties or a company that’s okay with jeans and t-shirts, you’ll need a dress code.
Make sure to include any workplace safety procedures you feel are necessary. Ensuring all your employees stay safe helps you avoid any potential lawsuits should something happens.
Don’t forget to include a section that speaks about the ramifications of violating any of your policies and procedures. That includes warnings and employee termination.
Without a clear-cut understanding of the actions their inappropriate behavior brings, employees may try to push those boundaries.
Equal Opportunity
No one likes being treated unfairly. Including a section about equal opportunity within your policies and procedures helps ensure all your employees feel equal and valued.
Incorporate anti-discrimination policies. It is against the law to discriminate based on certain protected criteria.
Encourage professional behavior within the workplace. This means letting employees know that joking about gender or race is best left outside the workplace. So many times these things start off as “light-hearted” teasing but escalate when someone gets offended.
Ensure that all employees, supervisors, and even independent contractors feel they have an equal chance based solely on their performance and skills.
Make sure race, sexual orientation, gender, and even religious and cultural beliefs are all valued and treated equally within your organization.
Communication Policy
There are so many ways to communicate with each other today. There’s the internet, phones, and e-mail. Then there’s the old-fashioned form of communicating where people speak to one another in person.
All of these forms of communication need policies and procedures written about them. It helps eliminate problems from the start.
If there are certain sites you don’t want employees visiting, include that within your policies and procedures. When handling fellow employees or customers, let employees know they should treat others with courtesy and within the spirit of helpfulness.
When there’s a difference of opinion, handle it privately and discreetly. Discourage gossip and backbiting while encouraging direct communication to resolve differences.
In cases of constructive criticism where ideas to improve business arise, create a policy to welcome it when it’s delivered with respect and tact. Note that destructive criticism is not tolerated or welcome.
Have employees strive to maintain a civil work atmosphere at all times. No obscenities, shouting, or yelling at fellow employees or customers.
Discrimination and Harassment Policy
Learn from Harvey Weinstein’s expensive and embarrassing mistakes. EVERY company, especially in this day and age should have an anti-harassment and discrimination policy.
This includes no disparaging remarks about physical attributes, physical or mental disabilities, ancestry, marital status, age, pregnancy, citizenship, or medical conditions are allowed in your place of business.
There should be a zero tolerance policy for any type of sexual harassment! As the employer you need to make sure your position on this is clear. And the best way to remove any confusion is a strongly worded policy on harassment.
Failure to comply with your anti-harrasment policy should be met immediately with a warning and/or termination of employment.
Arbitration Agreement
Include a section about arbitration. Your goal is to avoid going to court. Arbitration allows both parties to speak and even have lawyers present.
This document is so important that its the number one legal document I recommend any California employer have. It can potentially ave you from complete financial disaster in the event of an employee lawsuit against your company.
If you dont get a complete set of policies and procedures (which I recommend) you should at the very least get a properly crafted arbitration agreement. It could be the most important insurance policy you have.
We feel this is so important that we offer this legal document as a stand alone purchase to try to cover as many employers as possible.
It’s also usually less expensive and faster. List whether all disputes or certain disputes will be considered.
Don’t forget to have a termination process in place. It will help avoid a possible wrongful termination lawsuit.
Severance Agreement
People will leave your business for a number of reasons. Often, a severance package is part of the deal.
Usually, the period of time, amount of money, whether insurance is included, and a non-compete clause are included in the severance agreement policy.
Many employers absolutely hate the idea of “rewarding” a departing employee with money. But you have to think about this also as an insurance policy.
If the employee accepts the incentive and signs the agreement they are essentially saying that they will not come back and sue you later.
Especially with a “problem” employee it is well worth swallowing a little pride and dishing out a few bucks to protect yourself and your business down the line.
Employee Time Off
Your employees will take time off. The reasons will vary.
Some reasons include taking a much-needed vacation, or maybe their child or the employee themselves are sick.
Have policies in place that cover time off. This can be a challenge for smaller companies that don’t have enough employees to cover when someone is gone.
But you cannot just make up your own rules when it comes to employee time off. You have to make sure you are following the laws carefully. Again this can be tough if you don’t have a lot of staff and a key employee is out but that is another reason to have a written policy. It will help you plan for these situations and will also ensure you’re complying with the law.
Having Effective Policies and Procedures
Many people think of their policies and procedures as “their” company’s rules and regulations.
Yes you should have internal rules for employees to follow specific for your company. For example a financial services office will probably have a very different dress code expectation than a nightclub.
But there are federal and state laws that should be covered. That is what we are talking about here.
Many companies make the mistake of jumbling up their employee handbook with company specific policies and legal procedures.
This is a recipe for disaster in California! That is because greedy employee side attorneys will actually try to get their fingers on your handbook and look for mistakes. Mistakes they can sue you on!
That is why we do things very differently here. Instead of a long, rambling employee handbook that no one reads, we break it down.
The key to effective policies and procedures is that every policy is a single page contract between you and the employee that they sign. The beauty of this is when a law gets outdated you don’t need to redo the whole handbook. You simply update that single page (contract) and have the employee sign again.
This keeps it update and makes it harder for those sneaky employee attorneys to find outdated information or mistakes to catch you on. It also makes it more difficult for employees to claim they did not read what they signed because they are broken out to one page contracts instead of a super long handbook.
Get Help
Creating your procedures and policies isn’t always easy. You’re already busy focusing on your business.
We can help.
We’ll help you create your own procedures and policies package. We can also assist you with labor and employee issues.
Don’t wait until you’re in trouble; book a consultation with us now. Or go directly to our Policies and Procedures order page. We are the premier law firm in Southern California for Employer Defense.
We have created hundreds of policies and procedures and have seen thousands of situations. I am confident we can help you and your business.
