In this day and age, prohibiting electronic devices and internet use is no longer a realistic expectation. So, it’s important to outline your policies surrounding the use of electronics like cellphones in the workplace and differentiate between the use of personal devices and company-owned devices.
A few policies you may want to consider include:
When it comes to developing policies surrounding social media, outline policies that apply to people who directly represent you on social media as well as expectations of employees on their personal accounts.
Ask yourself questions like:
Additionally, you’ll want to outline specific expectations of employees on their personal and professional accounts to help to mitigate risks to your business like creating policies around:
Include procedures and requirements for the use of company property including equipment, tools, and vehicles. You’ll want to detail what condition equipment should be returned in, consequences for damaging items, how items should be handled, and any paperwork employees need to complete when using equipment.
Here, you’ll want to include whether employees are permitted to drive company vehicles outside of work and any requirements, like a clean driving record and expectations.
If you run a pool cleaning business, and your workers use their own cars to drive to each location, but they use specific supplies and uniforms that you’ve specified, are they considered employees or contractors? They’re given specific directions, but you’re not directly monitoring or managing them. Be sure to do your research to avoid misclassifying your workers.
For example, you may note that employees are not permitted to clock in/out for one another or they won’t be compensated for these hours. You would also want to detail any policies around clocking in late and how that may impact compensation or penalties for failing to clock in or adjusting timesheets without permission.
There are a number of payroll deductions you’ll need to consider, like health insurance and required tax deductions (federal, state, local, social security, medicare, unemployment). When making payroll deductions, make sure you’re legally allowed to subtract this from employees’ pay and be sure to get signed consent from employees in order to make deductions.
If your company provides funds in advance for employees, you’ll want to outline which types of advances are available, what situations you allow financial advances and personal loans, how often, the maximum loan amount, and the terms of repayment. For example, you might give employees their paycheck early or give personal loans to employees for tool purchases and require repayment over a 3 month period.
If your business offers reimbursements for business related expenses, outline which expenses qualify for reimbursement, the amount, how they should be recorded, and how and when employees can expect to be reimbursed.
For any benefits like medical and dental, you’ll need signed agreement and to strictly adhere to the rules and regulations outlined by the companies providing these benefits to avoid legal issues.
For any other additional pay, you’ll want to outline the terms and conditions of these payments including payment schedule, when employees are eligible to begin receiving these payments. This can include: commissions, tips, bonus pay, recognition pay, and any other non-cash benefits.
In this section, you’ll want to explain what disciplinary actions will be taken when employees violate the policies you’ve set out. Will employees get a verbal or written warning? How many warnings will they get before being terminated? What kind of actions can result in automatic termination? Be specific.