HR policies play a vital role in the success of any organization. Unfortunately, with so many competing priorities each day, they can get overlooked or simply left on the shelf to collect dust.
As a result, they become out of date and all but useless. Reviewing HR policies periodically is therefore important.
You need to ensure they stay fresh and relevant to your organization’s needs. Here are some tips to help you decide if it’s time to update your HR policies:
Your HR policies don’t exist
For new, fast-moving companies like startups, it’s easy to neglect creating things like sick or maternity leave policies.
However, this means that when one of these situations inevitably comes up, neither you nor the employee have protection.
It’s far better to put the effort in up front to create your HR policies and keep them updated. Especially when the alternative is that you have to scramble to create them when you need them.
Lives are unpredictable. You have to prepare for any and all situations. You can’t just bury your head in the sand and assume things like harassment or discrimination won’t happen purely because you have a small team.
Well-written, regularly updated HR policies offer you a legal safety net.
For employees, HR policies ensure they feel protected and valued, so they’re more comfortable and confident at work.
Your HR policies are gathering dust on a shelf…or worse, you’ve lost them
If your HR policies are still physical copies that had their last updates before the age of the internet or AI, it’s time to give them a refresh.
Or actually create new ones if you can’t find the old ones.
As I mentioned above: you never know when you’re going to need them. The last thing you want is to waste time trying to find them instead of putting them to use.
There are gaps in the content of your HR policies
If it’s been a long time since you refreshed your HR policies, there are inevitably going to be gaps that need filling in to ensure that they cover you and your employees.
Issues like AI aren’t just hot topics. They’re things you need policies on so that employees know how, when, and why they should use the technology.
Work with your legal and development departments to put something together.
Times (or laws) have changed
Technology and laws are rapidly changing right now, which means things are evolving and being updated all the time. Your HR policies need to reflect that.
Sometimes laws change in one country but not another, which can create challenges for global businesses.
For example, the Employment Rights Bill in the UK is in its final stages now. It may become law as early as 2026.
Affected businesses need to consider how they’ll prepare themselves now for changes in areas like zero hour contracts, flexible working, and trade unions so that they’re not caught flat-footed when it becomes law.
Global businesses will also have to consider if they’ll have the same HR policies throughout the organization. Alternatively, they could choose to just adapt them depending on the country in which an employee works.
No one can find where your HR policies live
Sometimes, when an employee leaves, the documents they created become impossible to find. No matter how long you spend searching the shared drive.
Documents can get moved accidentally, and permissions can get changed or not ever get granted. There are lots of reasons these things can become inaccessible or impossible to find.
I’ve spent hours going down rabbit holes to find documents before. Then, once I found the information I needed, I wasn’t able to move the file for next time as the person who created it had left two years earlier.
So the next time I needed the same file, I had to go through the same process. (I should’ve bookmarked it, I know, but I didn’t think I’d need it again.)
Make your employees’ lives easier by ensuring all the information they need is in one place.
And that they can actually find that place, regardless of their role.
You get asked the same questions every day
There are many things that eat into HR professionals’ time. Repeating themselves shouldn’t be one of them.
If you find people ask you the same questions over and over, whether it’s new employees or more seasoned ones, it’s time to look at updating your HR policies—and where you store them.
If they’re well-written, easy to understand, and easy to find, people shouldn’t need to reach out to you for answers.
Consider collating everything into a knowledge base where employees can search for a question. Or, utilize a chatbot that can give them the short version and answer questions in real time.
Conclusion
Your HR policies should be ever-evolving documents, not something you create and forget about until you actually need them.
Keeping them regularly updated ensures everyone works from the same playbook and protects both you and your employees.
Stay informed about government developments and changing laws so that you don’t have to make expensive and stressful last-minute changes. This will protect you and your employees now and in the future.
Get more from your employee initiatives
Ensure your HR policies are easy to find and all your employee initiatives are in compliance with Workrowd.
Use it to keep everything in one place and empower every team member to get the most from your employee experience. Get in touch today to book your free demo.
