We think it’s all about the ‘3Cs’ – compliance, commerciality and contemporary tone. The ‘3Cs’ take a people policy from zero to hero. In this series, we’ll cover each ‘C’ in turn. Below we’ve kicked off with ‘compliance’ and what that means for your people policies.
Short and sweet – you want your employment contracts to be short and sweet, so use the law to help you leave out of your employment contracts anything which can rightfully be placed in your policies. Think data protection, confidential information and managing sickness absence, to name a few.
Contractual – you’ll want to ensure that some policies (such as confidential information) are contractual – be sure to call it out in the policy to save everyone guessing (and arguing if there’s a breach). If an employee doesn’t follow a contractual policy, they’ll be in breach, with the possible penalty being far more severe than otherwise (including dismissal in some circumstances). Contractual policies help to flag the importance of the policy and any breach of it.
Flexibility – think carefully about which policies should be non-contractual. Non-contractual policies give you greater flexibility if a situation arises where you don’t want to have to follow every detail – your sickness absence procedure or disciplinary policy are prime examples of where flexibility is important.
Don’t forget! – ensure that your disciplinary policy and performance policy are distinct and separate – mixing the two can mean you’ll have an unfair dismissal on your hands (we see this more often than you’d think!).
