HR Policy Revision

Policy brief & purpose

Our HR policy revision guidelines are designed to ensure all company policies remain consistent with changes in legislation and our environment.

It is important that the rules that define our business are revisited and updated so we can preserve our legality and efficiency through time.

Scope

This HR policy refers to everyone in the company regardless of position or status. It also refers to anyone that has the ability or authority to identify problems or suggest revisions.

Policy elements

Our HR policies will be reviewed and evaluated for any of the following reasons:

• A scheduled periodical review
• A suggestion from a competent source
• An identified problem or issue
• A change in legislation

What is the HR policy revision process?

Revisions may involve important or minor changes. Important changes include but are not limited to, those that:

• Alter established procedures, processes or other daily operations
• Modify the scope or objectives of the policy
• Relate to changes in legislation
• Correct a serious inconsistency
• Rewrite the entire policy

Minor changes include but are not limited to, those that:

• Clarify statements or terms
• Add a small part to the initial policy
• Correct mistakes
• Introduce a new complementary procedure or rule

Whether a change is important or minor will be at the discretion of the employee responsible for revisions. This employee may be a Policy coordinator, an HR manager or other pertinent staff. All reviews will be conducted by a committee that may be composed of HR personnel, general counsels or members of the board. They will assess every policy by its effectiveness, completeness, consistency, clarity and legality. The revisions will be put in draft form and will have to be approved by the appropriate executive.

Scheduled periodical reviews. Periodical revision of policies are important in order to anticipate problems and solve them before they arise. The time between each of the reviews will be defined by the responsible employee.

Suggestion from a competent source. A competent source may be defined as any party that is closely related with the company or has authority to suggest modifications to its policies. These parties include:

• All employees of the company
• Major investors and stakeholders
• Customers
• Representatives of a legal authority

These people will be able to recommend changes in company policies by contacting the responsible employee. The latter will determine if suggestions are important or minor. Actual change in policies is not guaranteed with the exception of dictations from legal officials who may demand it with legitimate legal reasons.

Identified problems or issues. In cases when an issue arises as a part of normal business, a policy or a part of it may be indicated as the source of the issue. In this case, we are committed to revise and correct the policy in order to avoid any of these issues appearing in the future.

A change in legislation. It is important for a company to follow any alterations in the local or international law. In these cases, a legal counsel or a lawyer will be consulted to make sure all revisions will reflect the legal changes.

Procedures

Procedure for revising a policy periodically or making an important change is as follows:

1. A date of the review will be set by the responsible employee (e.g. HR coordinator)
2. The responsible employee will submit comments or suggestions to the review committee prior the date of review. The policy may be put in draft form
3. The committee will meet on the review date and decide on the revisions
4. A legal official or a lawyer may be contacted to review the new draft
5. The final form of a revised policy will be submitted for approval to the appropriate executive
6. The revision of the policy will be announced to employees and stakeholders through a newsletter or notification
7. A new revision date will be set

The procedure for making a minor change is as follows:

1. The responsible employee will decide if the change should be incorporated
2. They will prepare a draft including the minor change
3. The draft will be submitted for approval to the appropriate executive
4. The date for revision of the policy will be adjusted

 

Disclaimer: This policy template is meant to provide general guidelines and should be used as a reference. It may not take into account all relevant local, state or federal laws and is not a legal document. Neither the author nor Workable will assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of this policy.

Further reading

• Include this policy in your employee handbook