Workplace policies

Every workplace has rules, whether or not anyone wrote them down. Who may work from home, what happens after a complaint of harassment, whether a work phone may be checked, what the sanction is for a missed shift — these questions get answered one case at a time, until the answers start to contradict each other. A policy that was never properly adopted, or that goes further than the law allows, often cannot be relied on at the very moment it is needed.

Workplace policies turn those habits into rules that staff can know in advance and that an employer can apply consistently. Drafting them well means dealing with:

• the rules on the work regulations or staff handbook — what it must contain, who must be consulted, and how it becomes binding;
• the rules on disciplinary sanctions — which ones a policy may provide for, and how they must be imposed;
• the rules on remote and hybrid work, equipment and home-working costs, and the right to disconnect;
• the rules on the use of email, internet, social media and company devices, and on how far an employer may monitor them;
• the rules on harassment and violence at work, and on the complaints procedure staff must be able to use;
• the rules on internal whistleblowing channels and the protection owed to those who use them;
• the rules on alcohol and drugs at work, and on when testing is permitted;
• the rules on dress codes, religious symbols and neutrality policies.

Our lawyers can support you with this.