Policies That Don’t Just Sit in a Drawer: How to Make Them Actually Useful

A short story, if you’ll indulge us. Let’s call it ‘ the Life of HR policies’ written, printed, maybe even laminated, perhaps put into a nice perspex folder and (of course) saved for eternity in the digital equivalent of a wardrobe full of mothballs. Never to be seen again, unless HR is onboarding, of course. The end. 

But what if policies were more than that, if they could fulfil their destiny and actually had contents that made people feel better?

Getting crazy here, we know, stay with us.

What if we….

Stopped writing policies like they are for robots 

Most policies just don’t read like an actual person wrote them nor that a person can read them. So let’s change that because people are reading them. 

Say what you mean and make it actionable

Don’t just say you care about grievances,  Actually show it, create policies people can use, that people will refer to when they have an issue, and that says ‘we’ll listen to you’ 

Get the people implementing your policies to actually learn them and understand them

Your policies are only as good as the people who are implementing them. There is little point having a policy that says no emails after 6 pm if everyone is pinging out emails at 10 pm every night. Get those in leadership to walk the walk. 

Measure the important stuff 

It’s not about how many points you’ve got on your Vitality app (other providers are available), but rather check in on people and how people are getting on. Whether that's workload, burnout, or whether people actually feel engaged at work. While you’re there, why not measure who’s actually using that wellness app you spent a lot on. 

Actually use the policy 

The policy will only actually work if everyone sees it as a norm and encouraged as part of the culture. If you have Mental Health Days in your policy? Is anyone taking them? Are you? They’re there, use them, make them part of what happens on a regular basis. 

And finally…

No HR policy should just be created and left unused; they belong in daily work life, in how people work, rest and recover and how you build a business.

If yours are gathering digital dust, it’s time for a reboot. Remember, a policy of any kind is only useful if it’s used.