Spring Cleaning for Your HR Policies: 3 Steps on What to Refresh, Update, and Retire

Spring has officially arrived, bringing a sense of renewal and refreshed energy. As you may feel the urge to grab your furniture polish or dust off your gardening gloves, this is also the perfect time to renew your organization’s HR policies. This time of year, when minds are clear, presents an excellent opportunity to conduct a policy review to ensure that your employee handbook and other policies comply with current employment laws and regulations and align with your organization’s current needs.

This proactive approach to updating your employee handbook and HR policies not only mitigates risks but also fosters a more transparent and well-structured workplace. In this blog, we outline three easy steps for refreshing, updating, and retiring your HR policies to ensure they are up-to-date, compliant with existing laws, and meet the needs of your workforce. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Refresh Your Handbook by Fine-Tuning Existing Policies

Your policies should accurately reflect your organization’s present workplace culture and practices. The best first step is to review your organization’s existing policies to identify areas that need to be refreshed to align with your current needs. 

Before you begin, a simple yet helpful exercise is to evaluate where your organization is now compared to when you last refreshed your handbook and other policies. Ask yourself what has changed since then and how that could affect your expectations for your staff. A few easy examples are:

• Have your employees transitioned to working back in the office after working remotely due to COVID?
• Have you begun working with a new industry that has set new regulations for your employees?
• Are you still working at the same physical location? If not, are there new, site-specific requirements, like where to park, for your staff that you need to include in the handbook?

Another area of your handbook that you may need to refresh is the COVID-19 protocols. If your handbook has not been updated since the peak pandemic years, your business is likely in a much different place now and doesn’t require those same stringent guidelines. However, you may wish to retain some relevant pieces of your COVID-19 policies. For instance, while you might not need to keep the social distancing section, maintaining guidelines about staying home when experiencing a fever could be vital for the health and safety of your employees and clients.

In this step, it’s important that your policies reflect the current state of your organization. As you review your policies, ensure that they are clear and consistent. If you notice any inconsistencies or policies that might be open to multiple interpretations, we recommend updating those as you proceed.

Step 2: Update Your Policies to Comply With New Legal Changes

Employment laws evolve constantly, and the importance of compliance cannot be overstated when it comes to protecting your business, employees, and reputation. Numerous regulatory and policy changes have taken place in the last year alone, so now is an especially important time to review and update your practices.

In this step, as you review and update, ensure that your policies align with all federal, state, and local regulations. Pay close attention to the areas that have had recent updates, including:

• Wage & Pay Transparency: Update policies to comply with federal, state, and local laws regarding salary disclosures, minimum wage, and overtime.
• Leave Policies: Ensure compliance with FMLA or any additional new laws, and clarify PTO accrual, usage, and carryover.
• Anti-Harassment & Discrimination: Update language for inclusivity and ensure policies align with the latest legal protections.

Updating your policies in accordance with regulatory changes and new employment laws helps protect your business by ensuring that they remain relevant and legally sound. However, it is important to note that consulting with an HR firm or employment attorney may be a good idea to ensure full compliance. 

Step 3: Retire Your Outdated Policies

Every organization reaches a point when its once-helpful policies run their course. Hopefully, no one reading this still has a dress code that requires ladies to wear power suits or skirts in the office. However, if your policies feel this outdated, it’s time to retire the requirements that no longer serve your team or organization.

In this step, as you review your handbook, identify obsolete or redundant policies and either update or retire them altogether. Aside from the ladies’ dress code example, a few other generally outdated policies that you may consider removing are:

• Policies that ban visible tattoos or piercings. 
• Policies that require formal dress every day with no exceptions.
• “Use it or lose it” PTO policies and requiring doctor’s notes for every sick day.
• Policies that only offer promotions to employees based on seniority. 

Lastly, we encourage you to eliminate ambiguous or unenforceable policies. For instance, many organizations have language in their handbooks that requires employees to always maintain a positive attitude. Though this may seem appealing, policies like these are actually ambiguous because everyone defines “positive” differently, making enforcement inconsistent. If you have policies like these in your handbook, we recommend that you clarify your expectations. If you want respectful communication and teamwork, update your policy to explicitly state that employees must communicate respectfully and collaborate effectively with colleagues instead of using the “positive attitude” language.

This step will help you retire the requirements that no longer serve your people and organization. If there’s a more modern policy option, we encourage you to update your dated policies accordingly.  

Best Practices for an Effective HR Assessment

A well-maintained employee handbook is a vital tool for compliance, clarity, and workplace harmony. To ensure your policies stay effective and up to date, a few other effective best practices are:

• Conducting a thorough review: Work with HR professionals and legal counsel to identify compliance gaps and solicit employee feedback on unclear or outdated policies.
• Refine and standardize: Ensure consistency in formatting and language, using clear, employee-friendly wording for better understanding.
• Document and communicate: Clearly outline policy changes, update handbooks accordingly, and distribute revised versions promptly to keep employees informed.

By following these best practices, your employee handbook becomes a reliable resource that fosters compliance, consistency, and a positive workplace culture. Regular updates ensure that policies remain relevant and aligned with legal requirements, while effective communication promotes transparency and trust among employees. Investing time in a thorough HR assessment now can prevent future issues and help your organization operate smoothly.

Final Thoughts

Regularly reviewing and updating HR policies keeps your business compliant, organized, and aligned with evolving workplace norms. A proactive approach helps prevent issues before they arise, creating a smoother experience for both employers and employees.

Not sure where to start? Let us help you audit, update, and refine your HR policies to ensure compliance and effectiveness. Contact Berger HR Solutions at info@bergerhrsolutions.com or 410-695-9888 to get started. We are here to help!