Why are HR Policies and Procedures so Important?

It looks like we are in the middle of a global crisis – COVID-19 – and politicians, health officials and your social media influences are all shouting ‘Doom to the world’. There is so much information out there, most causing fear and panic rather than help and advice. In a world where any news can be called ‘fake’ its very hard for anyone to know good information from bad.

Luckily most businesses, and Payara is included in this, have very robust policies and procedures of how to behave in most situations. The fact that these pieces of information were created in a time of calm and reflection means that they can offer a steady and sure way forward when all around are losing their heads.

The Benefit of a Good Policy

HR policies are integral to life at Payara – you could say they are the bedrock of the company, like our company values. They offer clear guidance on how the company and its workers should behave in a variety of situations and what the businesses expectations are around these behaviors. They ensure that behaviors are fair and consistent across the company but are also flexible enough to allow for leeway under certain conditions or for individual situations to be catered for.

An example of this is the Sick Policy – at Payara we offer a benefit of a minimum 5 days fully paid sick per year rising to 20 days per year in the first 4 years to reward loyalty to the company. If an employee is sick, they follow a standard policy and procedure of reporting sick on our internal HRIS BambooHR which records and shares this info with those that need to know. Simple. If the employee runs out of company paid sick days, this then transfers to finance who pays the UK Government scheme of Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). By having this policy and procedure already written and available to all employees to view on our internal wiki, it means that we are transparent in our expectations of what behaviors we expect of our employees and what they can expect from us.

HR policies cover a wide range of situations from bereavement to redundancy to dress code – all are written and available to view by everyone. These policies offer a standardized and consistent way for HR to deal with most of the day to day issues relating to workers. HR always try to find the best and most suitable policy for every situation and apply it for the benefit of the worker.

At the time of writing this, COVID-19 is having a huge impact on businesses globally, who knows what the outcomes and ripple effects of the decisions made by politicians and health officials will be. At Payara HR will be working with the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) committee to formulate a Business Continuity Plan that puts people first. Using various HR policies and procedures e.g. flex working, working from home, extended sick or holiday, we hope to be able to help steer the company and all its workers through the current crisis in a transparent and steady way to ensure that Payara the business and all its Payarans remain healthy and safe.

Without HR policies set in place a business will leave itself vulnerable to being unprepared for
situations involving workers and – at worse – could be seen as being discriminatory. Having a
standard set of policies is sensible and necessary for most businesses.

Topics: Fish Food

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