Human resource policies

Introduction

No formal organisation can exist and function well without formal ‘rules of engagement’ in managing people. These are general guidelines that express how the management intends to manage people and what is expected of employees in the workplace (Cuming 1985; Armstrong 2006). Such guidelines include human resource policies. Other guidelines could be in the form of memos, circulars, codes of ethics and conduct and standing orders. Policies could be implicitly embodied in the organisation’s vision and mission statements or explicitly established in its strategic plan and/or human resource strategic plan. Policies define philosophies and values that the organisations attach to employees. They will express how employees are valued or not valued as a resource, management position with regards to decision making in staffing matters and roles to be played by each stakeholder in the employment relationship. Without policies that are explicit and known to both the management and staff, there are dangers of arbitrary decision-making that can de-motivate both managers and staff and hinder the whole organisation’s performance. This chapter dwells on the human resource policy as a separate topic in human resource management in order to give it the weight it deserves as a tool in guiding human resource decisions in an organisation. The chapter will cover a number of important areas in understanding why managers and employees need policies, key human resource management functions that require explicit policies, and how policies are developed and implemented. The chapter emphasises the fact that having a policy, which cannot be effectively implemented or used effectively, is as good as having none; thus it is even better not to have any policy all together.

Therefore, at the end of the chapter the learner should be able to:

· Explain the role of human resource policies in human resource management functions.

· Describe the human resource policy-making process.

· Develop effective human resource policy for an organization.

· Examine challenges of introducing human resource policy in an organisation.

The importance of human resource policies

As managers, before considering any human resource policy, it is important to pose a number of questions which have to be answered by the managers themselves because developing human resource policy to address specific areas of human resource management is an investment which, in principle should have positive returns in terms of facilitating decision making and creating a motivating environment for the employee. However, despite the fact that this topic is important for people management in organisations, a cursory review of the coverage of human resource policies as a distinct topic in the mainstream literature of human resource management studies show inadequacies in terms of scope and content (Cuming 1985; Beach & Dale 1985; Armstrong 2006). One of the reasons seems to be that policies, when defined as guidelines, are implicitly covered in separate topics such as strategic human resource management, human resource plans, performance and reward management and so on. However, where human resource policies are discussed, the best arguments for establishing human resource policies are:

First, human resource policies help managers to ensure that people management is in line with corporate values. It is not an easy task to solicit employees’ commitment to the organisation if what is contained in the corporate vision, mission, and values is not further developed and put across in such a way that both managers and employees feel that the organisation is not just paying lip service. Indeed, human resource policy is useful in judging the extent to which the consistency between the declared philosophy in people management at the strategic level and the day-to-day management of human resources in terms of decisions and activities at operational level is sustained.

Second, is about ensuring that human resource management decisions are made consistently. Managing employees is about decision-making and implementation of human resource intents in the whole spectrum of the terms and conditions of employment Human resource policies provide a reference and guidance for avoiding inconsistent decision making by substantive managers or those who make decisions in similar matters and thus affecting different employees over time. This builds confidence and trust between managers and staff.

Third, is to minimise inequality in the treatment of employees. Although the mere presence of human resource policies cannot guarantee equality in the treatment of employees in various areas such as training, employment benefits or gender, lack of specific policies can create even more disparity between employees. It becomes difficult for employees to demand equal treatment when there are anomalies and when there are no clear definitions and criteria for judging equality.

Fourth, human resource policies facilitate decentralisation, delegation and local empowerment. Staffing decision making can be delegated to lower levels of management without the risk of the wrong decisions being taken because the policy will provide guidance on how certain issues or problems on staffing should be handled. The human resource policy document becomes the source of power and authority for those entrusted with the execution of duties affecting employee’s work and welfare.