HR Practice For Payroll Practitioners

HR Practice for Payroll Practitioners

It is recommended to use general language where possible as opposed to being overly specific. Words like ‘usually’, ‘typically’ or ‘may’ can help cover the possibility of exceptions. As guidelines, your policies should leave room for interpretation and at the discretion of management to respond to certain conditions.

10. Consult key stakeholders and the legal department

Once the first draft is complete, it will be time to get some feedback. Your company policies may be a team effort, or they may be written up by an individual. Either way, before launching them, you should have both a management and a legal representative review them. Running through the policies with management or stakeholders who’ll be affected by them will allow you to clarify any doubts and make necessary amendments. It is also necessary to ensure that your policies don’t contradict any collective or individual agreements or specific employment agreements. This task should be undertaken by someone with legal training - either an outsourced lawyer or the internal legal team. When you are certain that all policies comply with the relevant legislation and meet the standards established by the company, you’ll be ready for the next step. When the time comes to implement your policies, you’ll need to inform everyone they apply to. By this stage, it’s likely you’ll already have refined the policies, so they clearly reflect the organisation’s code of conduct. The delivery method should be impactful so that this new information isn’t overlooked. This means that sending out a mass email and assuming everyone has read it might not be the best communication technique. What you can do, instead, is include an announcement of the email in a newsletter or arrange meetings with department heads who can raise awareness of new policies with their teams. The policies themselves should be available to access by all staff at any time, either through an employee portal or intranet. They 11. Communicate policies to employees

© New Zealand Payroll Practitioners Association, Sep 2024, Ver 12

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