Types of Company Policies
We often get asked is “What policies does my business need?” or “What types of company policy are there?” In this article we will give an overview of the types of company policy every company should have.
Starting with Human Resources, every company should have a Staff Handbook, which is underpinned by various policies. Examples of these are: Annual Leave Policy, Disciplinary Procedures, Equality and Diversity Policy and a Grievance Policy
You can see more examples of Human Resources policies every company should have here.
Health and Safety policies are very important to have and adhere to. Depending on your industry, you may need to have several requirements for Health and Safety. Standard policies are: A full H&S policy which covers all aspects of your staff working environments, considering employer and employee responsibilities, ability to report accidents and near misses as well as fire safety and alcohol and drugs. You must also account for First Aid.
If your workplace involves manual handling or exposure to hazardous materials, you will need to incorporate the relevant Risk Assessments and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). You can see a comprehensive list of Health and Safety policies here.
If you are a healthcare provider or provide other care services, there are a number of additional policies that are required by oversight bodies and law. For example: Duty of Care, Safeguarding Policy and a Referral Pathways policy. More information on car service policies is available here.
All companies that deal with personal data of their customers and store this on IT systems or paper require data and information security policies that detail what they use the information for, who uses the information and how it is stored. This comes under GDPR and the data protection act.
If you are transmitting data to third parties your information security policy and procedures must also cover this.
There are a number of additional compliance policies and procedures that it is mandatory to have and implement. Examples of this are Anti-Bribery, Modern Slavery and Anti-Money Laundering. You may also require Tax Evasion and Whistleblowing policies, especially if your business is part of a supply chain.
If you would like any more information on policies that all businesses require, please drop us a line using the form below.