Policy, What is It?

Policy Definition

The definition of policy is “a rule, a plan, or a way of acting.” Policy defines for our company who, what, when, how, and why things are done.

Policy comes from experience. Leo writes policy when he has observed something to work or not to work. It is not a whim. It comes from hard-won experience.

Policy guides us to do the things that we know work. Policy prevents the unnecessary repetition of mistakes by prohibiting the things that didn’t work and preserves workable solutions.

There cannot be a well-functioning group without real policy. Policy in companies can be verbal or written, but we put it in writing so that it can’t be changed or applied unevenly.

Policy smoothes out your job because everyone does things the same way, and the rules are the same for everyone. Policy makes things work.

Policy also makes it easier to learn a job as the rules are there for new people. The rules are there to be reviewed, making it easier to retrain people.

Hats

A “hat” is a term we use to mean your job. A fireman wears a fireman’s hat and a policeman wears a hat that fits his uniform and job. A hat represents a person’s job or position. We use the term HAT to mean a job and all the work that a job is responsible for accomplishing. Some examples of hats are a salesman, an accountant, the shipping person, or the president of a company.

Orders, Hats, Instructions, and Decisions

Hats are different from policy. Some of our policy does deal with how to do something. But I’m not going to write policy on how to do accounting, since doing accounting is a standard practice. The IT professional knows how to do the tasks of IT and doesn’t always need policy written about how to do it. We mainly write policy on tasks that are specific to how we do things in our company that may be different from how other companies do it. There can be some of those things in accounting and IT, but not everything.

Similarly, we don’t write policy for every decision that needs to be made every day, especially if that decision might be different in the future because of different circumstances. Decisions can be communicated by email or verbally, must comply with existing written policy and cannot contradict it. Decisions can be the basis for new policy in situations that occur regularly.

Orders and instructions received from your supervisor verbally or by email are applied on a case-by-case basis to situations that are not necessarily covered in policy but don’t occur regularly enough or change too frequently to require a written policy. All orders and instructions must comply with existing written policy and cannot contradict it.

Who Makes Policy

All policy comes from Leo. There is no other source. This single source of policy eliminates confusion or conflict in establishing how we do things.

The Chief Financial Officer is Leo’s liaison for issuing and updating policies.

All policies are in force until I cancel them and must be applied. No one is authorized to cancel or change any policies except me. If someone tells you that you no longer need to follow X policy, please immediately bring that to my attention. In the meanwhile, continue to apply the policy as written.

Outdated Policy

Occasionally a policy may become outdated or, in the rare situation, even unworkable. In this case, you would not simply ignore it, but you should report it to Leo through the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The CFO will research what updates are needed and liaison with Leo to get it updated.

If you’re doing your job well, you might notice areas that are not yet covered by policy. In this case, you can write a suggested policy and submit it to the CFO, who will look for similar policies and liaise with Leo if a new policy is needed.

Your suggestion can be as simple as, “I noticed that there is no policy covering the disposal of corpses found in the storage room.” Or you could write a “suggested” policy with all the details of the best way to get rid of a dead body and forward to the CFO. Either way is good and acceptable.

To notice a need for new or updated policy and say nothing would be considered very irresponsible.

Your Responsibility to Know Policy

It is a common phrase in American Law that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

Following this tradition, it is Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers Policy that ignorance of Company Policy is not an excuse for not following policy.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE POLICIES THAT APPLY TO YOUR WORK DUTIES.

So when a new policy comes out, take the time to read, understand, and apply it.

Ignorance will not protect you!

The Intention of the Policy

It would be impossible to cover every detail and every variation of every situation that might arise in a policy. That does not mean that we look for “loopholes” in policies to exploit or disregard any policy and do whatever seems easiest for us. If there is a policy about fruit and it specifically mentions apples, but it doesn’t mention oranges, and you have an orange to deal with, don’t just think, “Well, they didn’t tell me what do with oranges, so I’ll just do what’s best or easiest for me.” Instead, ask yourself, “What is the intention of the fruit policy? What result is it trying to achieve? How would I apply that same intention to my situation with oranges?” If it doesn’t seem obvious, ask your supervisor to help figure out what to do in that situation that conforms to the existing policy. If you find that you and others often have the same problem with oranges, send a request to the Officer over your department (CFO or COO) asking for clarification.

Your Responsibility to see that Policy is Applied

If you see someone who is NOT applying policy correctly, it is YOUR responsibility to report it to HR and let HR handle it. Getting policy applied is not tattling. It’s helping the person do their job better and helping the company to grow.

Writing reports to get policy applied is always the right thing to do.

How to report a problem

The person who notices the problem should write it up in an email as soon as possible and send it to HR. The email should contain all of the facts of the situation and anyone who was involved. Put ALL of the facts and details in this email so the recipient doesn’t have to ask for more information. It should all be in the initial report.

Do not report to the manager of the department. Report directly to HR, and HR will report to the manager as appropriate.

Summary

Because we all know the rules, we do things that worked well in the past, and we don’t do things that didn’t work. Doing this saves us lots of time and money that would be wasted repeating mistakes. Please know policy, apply it, and help your coworkers to know it and apply it.