What Are They?

Nowadays, more and more business owners and HR professionals are becoming aware of the need to have properly drafted employment contracts for their workplaces.

Something that is often given less attention however is workplace policies (also sometimes referred to as “employee handbooks”). This article is intended to serve as a broad refresher on what workplace policies/handbooks are, and what they aren’t.

‍

It’s important to first remember that an employee handbook is not the same as an employment contract. Although workplace policies can be used to establish general procedures and expectations, they are generally not the best way to establish key work conditions such as hours, overtime, severance and vacation.

‍

Minimum Requirements

All employers in BC are required by WorkSafeBC to have, at minimum, “procedures” for responding to reports or incidents of bullying and harassment in the workplace. A written bullying & harassment policy is often the best way to do so. As with all workplace policies however, it is critical that any bullying & harassment policy be consistently applied and followed by the company (subject, of course, to human rights considerations).

‍

Establishing Policies

This leads to another key aspect of workplace policies: they must be actually followed to be effective. In fact, failing to follow written policies may actually increase rather than decrease potential liability for a business. It is therefore important to avoid blindly implementing a “cookie cutter” policy handbook since policies that are aspirational or inapplicable will often serve to simply increase ways that the company’s conduct will be scrutinized in the event of, for example, a human rights or WorkSafe claim.

‍

Some Typical Policies

As noted above, it’s important to ensure that any workplace policies are tailored to your specific workplace. Some “standard” or “recommended” policies might be totally inapplicable to a workplace, and some less common ones may be warranted depending on the business’s needs. An employment lawyer’s role is partly to help you determine what policies you need vs. what policies you don’t.

‍

With that caveat out of the way, some of the more common types of policies that can be worth considering include policies on:

1. bullying and harassment;
2. employee conduct;
3. health and safety;
4. remote work;
5. confidentiality/protection of information;
6. privacy;
7. overtime;
8. attendance;
9. company devices;
10. and drug/alcohol.

The above list is by no means an exhaustive (or universally applicable) list since the needs of, for example, a manufacturing or construction business will be very different from the needs of a tech startup.

‍

Conclusion

At minimum, it is generally recommended to have in place a written bullying & harassment policy if you have employees in BC. Additionally, it is often good practice to ensure that you have policies in place for addressing at least key areas of concern for your business. For example, if your business has sensitive data that employees will be accessing while working remotely, you may want to consider having a policy restricting how they access and handle that data.

As always, our team of employment lawyers here at KSW Lawyers are happy to help with any questions.

‍

Note to Readers: This is not legal advice. If you are looking for legal advice in relation to a particular matter please contact one of our group members. We communicate all these updates to our clients and readers on our Employer Resources Portal and through monthly Newsletters.

‍