HRM Policies 3

Hrm policies

Policies Of HR Department

•What is a Policy?• Plan Of Action• Statement of intentions committing

Management• To a general course of action

• Guided by HR principles

Hrm policies• A policy is a predetermined course of action

established as a guide towards accepted objectives and strategies of the organization.

• Developed in light of the mission and objectives of the company.

• They become the media by which management’s plans, rules, intents, and how to run its HR processes.

• HR policies are documented and communicated to all staff

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Hrm policies• Carefully drafted and standardized policies and

procedures save the company countless hours of management time.

• The consistent use and interpretation of HRM policies, in fair manner, reduce the management’s concern about legal issues becoming legal problems.

• It seems restrictive in nature however, policies also provide staff with a degree of freedom within defined boundaries.

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Sample Contents of a Personnel Policy Manual

• Overview and Employment Relationship

• General Employment Information

• Attendance at Work

• Workplace Professionalism and Company

Representation

• Compensation and Benefit

Sample Contents of a Personnel Policy Manual (contd…)

• Payroll Information

• Benefits

• Employee Time Off From Work

• Use of Company Equipment and Electronics

• Monitoring in the Workplace

• Performance Expectations and Evaluation

Principal Sources Of HR Policies

• Past practice in the organization

• Prevailing practice in rival companies

• Attitudes & philosophy of people at all levels of the

company

• The knowledge & experience gained from handling

countless personnel problems on a day-to-day basis.

Characteristics of a Sound HRM Policy

• Related to objectives• Relating company goals to functions, personnel

• Easy to understand• Should be stated in definite, positive, clear &

understandable language


• Precise• Should be comprehensive & provide limits for

future action

• Stable as well as flexible• No overnight changes• In tune with the times


• Based on facts• Not based on feelings

• Appropriate number• Not too many, leading to confusion

• Not too less, should cover all areas


• Just, fair & equitable• Applicable to internal & external groups

• Reasonable• Capable of being accomplished

• Review• Periodically done to keep in tune with changing times

Types of HRM Policies

• Originated policies• Established by top management to guide executive thinking at

all levels

• Appealed policies• Requested by sub-ordinates to meet requirements of certain

peculiar situations

• Imposed Policies• Formed by external agencies like govt., trade unions

Types of HRM Policies

• General Policies• Reflect top management philosophy

• Specific Policies• Specific issues of hiring, rewarding & bargaining

• Written policies• No room for lose interpretation

• Implied policies• Inferred from behavior like dress code, gentle tone

Formulation of HRM Policies

1. Identifying the need

• Important areas in Recruitment, Selection,

Training, Compensation are identified

• Policies must be formulated in these areas


2. Collecting Data• Past and prevailing practices in and outside the

organization.

3. Specifying alternatives• They should emerge clearly after collecting

relevant data from various sources


4. Communicating the policy

• Gain approval at various levels

• Communicate throughout the organization

• Policy manual, in-house journal, discussions


• Evaluating the policy

• To be more effective

• Review, Evaluate & Control regularly against set

standards.

Advantages of HRM Policies

• Delegation

• Uniformity

• Better control

• Standards of efficiency

• Confidence

• Speedy Decisions

• Coordinating devices

Few HRM policy categories

1. Employment policies:• Policy of hiring people with due respect to factors like • reservation, gender, marital status, and the like.

2. Payroll policies• Policy on terms & conditions of employment • compensation policy & methods, hours of work,

overtime, promotion, transfer, lay-off, and the like.


2. Employee Benefits: • These are policies that explain employee benefits such as

insurance, vacations, holidays, leave, and employee reimbursements.

3. Workplace Guidelines: • These policies are quite varied and their purpose range from

defining certain work arrangements such as flex time and telecommuting to offering guidelines on the use of company assets and record retention.


4. Employee Conduct: • These policies are guidelines that control employee

behaviour and conduct on the job.

• The mainstay of this section is a code of conduct but also important are the policies regarding substance abuse, smoking, harassment, and workplace violence.


5. E-Policies:• These policies guide staff in the use of the

organization’s information technology.

• Policies defining acceptable and prohibited activities and use of e-mail and the Internet make up a majority of these policies.

HRM Policies 3

Documents