It’s Time to Review Your HR Policies and Procedures
By Renee Boyda
It is crucial for all businesses to ensure that their HR policies and procedures are compliant with current employment legislation and regulations, especially small businesses with limited resources.
When HR policies are outdated with employment legislation, it subjects the business to legal risks that in turn could lead to expensive fines and damage to their reputation. A small business who faces these penalties may not recover.
Additionally, by having outdated policies, businesses can face:
- Security vulnerabilities
- Employee dissatisfaction and disengagement
- Wasted time, inefficiencies and ineffectiveness
- Lack of clarity and consistency
- Missed opportunities for innovation
Therefore, updating your HR policies and procedures can help your business succeed by:
- Being compliant with changing employment laws.
Several provinces have instituted vast changes to their employment standards legislation (or will be in the near future). For example, Ontario has made numerous changes to its employment standards laws through its Working for Workers legislative series, with its sixth Working for Workers Act legislation introduced in November of 2024. Changes to pay transparency, Employment Standards Act maximum fines, tips payment and tips sharing, vacation pay agreements, regulations on artificial intelligence in hiring processes, job posting rules, sick leave documentation, virtual harassment changes, and more are already in place. If the Working for Workers Six Act is passed, then a new parental leave, a new long-term illness leave, and many other changes will be forthcoming.
- Aligning policies and procedures to changing organizational or industry standards.
Reviewing your HR policies and procedures will allow you to update them to match current strategies and goals, supporting growth and operational efficiency.
- Mitigating risks and enhancing efficiency to deal with common workplace problems.
Have you ever encountered situations that seem to be re-occurring, or that have consumed more time than is necessary to reach a resolution? By updating policy, businesses can ensure that they have procedures in place and feel confident that existing “pain points” can be addressed quickly and consistently.
- Upholding a respectful workplace.
Having updated policies and procedures in place to deal with conflict, harassment, discrimination, and safety provides a stronger security net to ensure a respectful workplace is maintained.
- Improving employee experience and engagement.
By showing a commitment to continuous improvement through policy, it shows the employee that you value them, improves trust and retention.
- Improving communication and understanding of responsibilities and expectations.
Well written and up-to-date policies and procedures provide a framework for managers and employees to tackle problems and prevent misunderstandings.
When reviewing your HR policies and procedures here are some tips to make the process as effective as possible:
- Prepare ahead and do your research. Check your industry standards and competitor practices to stay competitive and relevant.
- Read through your policies and procedures thoroughly and mark those that are no longer effective or need to be updated, refined or revised due to changes in organizational or industry standards. Collaborate with other managers and supervisors for input. Be mindful that if policy changes are perceived as unfair, unnecessary, too complex or too restrictive then you will face resistance from employees and managers.
- Check to see if your policies are compliant with current employment laws and regulations. With so many changes that have been happening with employment legislation and regulations, attempting to align your policies can be especially difficult, so seek guidance from an HR professional.
- Educate your managers, supervisor and employees on your policy and procedures to ensure understanding. Failure to properly communicate changes to your staff can lead to misunderstandings, lack of compliance and even increased conflict.
- Monitor and evaluate your policies and procedures to assess effectiveness.
Businesses should review their HR policy and procedures every one to three years. But there are several other instances that trigger a review:
- Changes to employment laws and regulations.
- Organizational changes such as new internal processes, a change in ownership or leadership, changes in mission, vision and values, or changes in your strategic direction.
- Repeated or significant policy violations or non-compliance in general signals that a policy may be outdated, unclear or inadequate. It could also mean that it was not communicated properly.
- Workplace incidents such as injuries, violence, structural or hazardous materials failures may be due to poorly written safety or operational policies and procedures. Again, make sure they are clearly communicated to staff.
- When there are high turnover rates, absenteeism, or low employee engagement it could reflect ineffective policies or procedures.
- Negative feedback from employees or managers, complaints or grievances about the policies and procedures requires a reassessment.
Keep in mind that a review does not necessarily mean that you are rewriting your entire policy manual and that reviewing policies does not automatically lead to policy changes. Keep in mind that an HR professional can help. If you need any assistance with this process or help on any other HR matter, you may consider reaching out to Legacy Bowes, where our team of HR experts can help your business maintain sound practices when it comes to people operations and management.
Renee Boyda is a human resources consultant with Legacy Bowes. Renee is a CPHR candidate, received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Manitoba, and received both Human Resource Management and Management Development Certificates with Honours from Red River College. Renee is focused on building HR structures and processes to create consistency and fairness in workplaces across Canada. Renee is a proud Metis, with over 12 years of human resource experience in both union and non-union environments. She can be reached at (204) 947-5525.
