Project Description
DIE MOS INISIATIEF POLICIES
The brief
We jumped at the chance to work with Jirrah Governance Consulting to create a set of company policies for Die MOS Inisiatief. This project was all about creating a positive work environment and reflecting the company values through their policies.
Policies are interesting types of documents because although they are very important, they are rarely read. Companies often shell out huge amounts of money on a set of policies, procedures or guidelines only to shelve them. Those thoughtfully crafted policies do nothing to inspire employees, clear up roles or establish rules, because nobody takes the time to read them or to integrate them into any of the company processes or campaigns. It’s human nature for employees to test limits and act “creatively” in workplace situations, so you need a strategy for developing, communicating and enforcing a set of policies and practices that reflect your standards of acceptable behaviour. A successful policies and practices strategy does more than draw boundaries; it also recognises and addresses people’s needs and ensures employees have clear expectations and are treated fairly as they work to help build a company.
Die MOS Inisiatief was the perfect company to help with a policy project. The company is people driven, they are forward thinking and they like to do things outside the box.
What the client said
We at Die MOS Inisiatief really enjoyed working with you on this project.
For me as a CEO the most important thing about this project was to ensure our company values and culture was underpinned by our policies.
Secondly to ensure every can read and understand it. Policies in an old-fashioned legal format gets read and understood by almost nobody and then it’s a document to make management feel better.
Roedolf van der Westhuizen
CEO at Die MOS Inisiatief
What we did
Together we created policies for annual leave, their code of conduct, discipline, harassment, maternity leave, OHS, performance management, sick leave and social media. In these policies we addressed four important elements that all policies should have, namely roles, rules, consequences and tools. Here we use the annual leave policy to indicate how we’ve incorporated these elements into each policy.
Roles
People like to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in a company as well as the roles of others. This means you need to have clear reporting structures that spell out who’s in charge and how tasks are to be accomplished in the organisation. Similarly, people need to be well informed about their responsibilities so that there are no misunderstandings.
Rules
Managers and employees need to share a clear understanding of what is and what is not acceptable behaviour within the company. Setting clear and specific standards for behaviour (rules) establishes a framework for spotting and addressing violations of those standards. If you rely on loosely defined general standards that aren’t properly documented, then violations become subjective and open to interpretation. The result is often a visit to the CCMA.
Consequences
It’s important that employees understand not only what will happen to them if they don’t stick to the rules, but that they understand what might happen to the company. In addition, clear consequences help to ensure that you aren’t limited in your options when dealing with improper behavior.
Give employees the right tools
The policy is just the starting point. It is vital that you also give employees the tools and support to follow your policies.
Ask yourself:
- How do you support the people in your company who manage other employees?
- When faced with a specific personnel issue, what resources are available to them?
- Do they have an employee handbook or a policy guide?
- What about regular training in company policies and practices, coupled with simple, easy-to-use forms to guide them when dealing with particular issues?
- Are your policies integrated into an employee induction programme?
- Are you giving them a clear directive on working with your human resources department or legal representatives?
- Are your resources available online?
Tools like these are vital not just to help avoid litigation, but also to minimise the time it takes for you to deal with productivity-draining people issues instead of core business matters.
