- Purpose
The best way to establish the purpose of a policy is to ask the question. ‘What would
happen if the organisation did not have that particular policy in place? The policy has to
be outcome based. That is, what will be achieved at the end of the day if the policy is
well implemented? Usually, the purpose is established from the review of the strategic
plan by using specific tools such as stakeholders’ analysis, problem tree, or mapping. - Relevant sections of the policy
Since the policy will aim at addressing specific aspects of particular staffing functions,
each of the aspects have to be sufficiently covered by giving specific policy statements,
roles and responsibilities, of each of the key stakeholders’, rewards and sanctions. - Annexes
Usually annexes are in the form of policy instruments or references to particular sec-
tions of certain relevant laws. For example, well designed forms for filling in (if re-
quired), extracts from employment law.
The qualities of a well drafted policy are many and cannot be adequately covered here.
However, there are some general principles that could be used to differentiate between a
strong and weak human resource policy:
- It has to be linked to corporate mission, values, objectives and strategies of the or-
ganisation. For example, if the organisation mission is to excel in the production of
quality products in a particular industry, a policy on remuneration should show how
it could attract, motivate and retain the best people. - It has to complement other policies in addressing human resource management is-
sues. It is natural to see for example, a training policy complementing a promotion
policy because training will provide the necessary competencies required for higher
positions. - It has to be flexible but robust enough to match the changing business environment.
It may be unrealistic to think that a policy will sufficiently cover certain aspects of
human resource management functions at all times. In order to give managers some
flexibility in decision making, it is important that there are some policy provisions
to help managers make sensible decisions without faulting the fundamentals. - It has to be realistic and implementable. Unrealistic policy may raise unrealistic
hopes, it may look futile if implemented and may even demotivate staff. It is impor-
tant that before a policy is approved, its utility is assessed by looking at the real
working environment and other intervening factors. - It has to be clear, unambiguous, and objective. Lack of clarity and the use of am-
biguous concepts, verbs and phrases create room for misinterpretation of the same
policy by different managers in the same organisation. The consequences may in-
clude lack of consistency in handling policy issues and subjectivity in treating indi-
vidual members of staff. - It has to be accessible to all staff. A policy document has to be available for reading,
discussion and referencing for all employees. If the organisation has a library or
lounge, it will be useful to display some copies of the policy for reading. - It has to be open to continuous review and improvement. For organisations with
strategic plans, operational plans and annual action plans, such plans may include
review of human resource policies. The reviews have to be participatory in order to
ensure that all key stakeholders give their opinions on the appreciation or limitation