XYZ Corporation, a fast growing small business, spent five nmonths and several thousand dollars preparing their new employee manual. It includes policies and procedures for all employees.
That was four years ago. In that four years, the company has experienced significant growth in the size of its employee group. It has expanded into new markets and started a new division with a new product. It has changed many of its policies and procedures.
Yet the four-year-old employee manual sits on a shelf (or a hard drive) gathering dust. On the rare occasion someone does look at it, the information in it is so outdated that it has be considered useless. It's hard to tell an employee that the company has a policy against having facial hair and it says so right in the manual when the manual also says the company pays mileage to sales employees even though it doesn't anymore.
All the time and money to create the thing has effectively been wasted. Why? Because the manual never became part of the fabric of the company and the people that work in it. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to invest in creating an employee manual if it isn't going to be used by all employees to guide decisions and behavior. And to be used, it must be current.
Here's the rule for employee manuals: Either keep it updated (thereby leveraging the time and effort that went into creating it in the first place), or do away with it (so it doesn't cause confusion and inconsistency, which it most certainly will if it is not kept up-too-date).
Organizations always decay to states of poor communication, inconsistency, lack of clarity, and confusion unless there is intervention. It is very hard work maintaining a company so that these maladies do not infiltrate it. That hard work is worth it, it just needs to be done every year, every month, and every week so those ills do not gain a foothold in the organization.
Part of the problem starts when businesses grow to a size that the top dog decides they need a formal employee manual. I agree with her, but often the dysfunctionality of the new manual starts even before it's created. To help avoid dysfunction around your new employee manual, ask yourself these important questions before you begin creating your manual internally or hiring an external consultant to create one for you:
1. Precisely why do we need an employee manual?
2. How will we use this new manual to run our business and better manage our employees?
3. How will periodic revisions and updates to the manual be handled?
4. Whose responsibility is it to update the manual and ensure it is the foundation of our business operations?
5. How will managers within the company learn to use it effectively?
Employee manuals and policy and procedure manuals are fantastic; but only if they're current and only if they're used.
If you like this post (or don't) please leave a comment. Skip Anderson is the Founder and President of Selling to Consumers Sales Training. He works with companies and individuals who sell to consumers in B2C, retail, in-home selling, and the financial, real estate, and insurance markets.
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