Is HR Policy Manual Essential For SME?

You must have heard or read – “Its company Policy” or “We can’t go against HR Policy” several times at different occasions. There is a golden rule – when in doubt or dispute, refer a policy. But, without a policy, you are on your own. Similar situation is faced by SME, they are too busy in running the business and no time to think about formulating HR policies. One of the most important documents a SME should have is a HR Policy Manual. Imagine a situation when one of your disgruntled employees slaps a Sexual Harassment case against you or files a complaint in the labor department regarding non-payment of dues for working extra hours. Without an HR Policy Manual, you will have a difficult task to defend yourself.

The primary objective of the HR Policy Manual is to explain the culture of the company to the employees, to set behavioral standards and expectations for both, employees and managers. The HR Policy Manual also clearly states acceptable/unacceptable behavior and the actions to be followed for an unacceptable behavior.

Today, HR Policy Manual has become a necessity for maintaining a healthy relationship between the organization and employees.

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Your views and opinions will be appreciated.

The policies are important to treat everyone equally. It ensures that all the colleagues are treated equally without any bias during any disciplinary process or during any other issues. But on the other hand policies should be used as guidelines only and not as a golden rule, in most of the cases commonsense and right attitude plays an important role.

Hi Ramnaresh,
Completely agree with your views. Policies are the guiding factor, not the ruling factor.....but without them, managers with no basic HR knowledge may create mistakes unknowingly leading to unnecessary issues.
Do you see absence of HR policy manuals in SME firms as a common gap or problem?

Hey i wish to know the clauses which we need to take care of when we are designing the HR Policy manual for a small enterprise??

CAN ANYONE TELL ME IF I HAVE TO PROPOSE AN hr plicy manual how do i start with the same. Im a fresher . Do give an elaborate insight as to how to go about the same.