6 Tips to Consider Before Revising Your HR Policy

The ongoing pandemic continues to impact employees and employers across industries. A study revealed that three in five employees in India (59%) reported feeling extremely, highly or somewhat stressed on a daily basis. This number is higher than the global average!

The current scenario is a wake-up call for every company to revisit their HR policies. Is your team ready for this paradigm shift?

We suggest you take some tips from two of our webinar (Parichay series) speakers S Kumar (Head ‒ People & Admin), Godrej & Boyce and Namrata Dhasmana (Head ‒ People & Culture), Genpact.

Here’s a quick rundown of their recommendations for creating HR best practices.

1. Align your policy with your philosophy

A company might decide to have an all-women workforce. Another one might opt to make recruitments only through employee references. Both these policies are driven by a
corporate philosophy. But the main objective is to employ reliable people who eventually become loyal.

2. Enhance recruitment experiences

Candidates are more than their CVs! The moment a recruiter approaches a prospective employee, the latter begins to have an impression about the organisation. Therefore, it is important to hire people without bias and offer them a pleasant onboarding experience.

3. Make work more flexible

The outbreak of the pandemic has changed the way employers and their employees work. Hybrid and remote options co-exist today. Diverse working styles have to be adopted so that the employees get to enjoy more autonomy and experience work-life balance.

4. Develop new learning opportunities

All employees have to be empowered and encouraged to have a definite purpose that is aligned to the organisational goals. When their weaknesses are addressed, they evolve to become pillars of strength. Employee education, via different learning techniques, has to happen at every stage of their journey.

5. Foster a culture of innovation

Invite your employees to innovate and think up new ideas, products and processes. Adopt new initiatives for increasing employee engagement and achieving long-term sustainability. This, in turn, can help enhance loyalty and reduce the attrition rate.

6. Focus on diversity and inclusion

When you integrate fair practices at every stage of an employee’s journey, you get to attract the best talent from the market. Diversity and talent have to be encouraged. All this can begin with a perfect job posting that not only defines the role but also underscores the organisation’s commitment to being an equal-opportunity employer. This commitment has to be reinforced with a series of in-house engagement initiatives after onboarding.

Final thoughts

HR policies have to be designed as per the demands and dynamics of the industry. Also, every policy has a letter and spirit. Whenever there is a state of dilemma, you need to switch from the letter to the spirit without breaking the rules.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How often should an organisation review its HR policies?

There is no universal review frequency. Policies should be reviewed periodically and whenever there are relevant changes in employment laws, business operations, workforce practices, benefits, technology, or ways of working.

2. What should HR check before revising an existing policy?

Start with the reason for the change, applicable legal requirements, current workforce practices, employee impact, implementation feasibility, and consistency with related policies. HR should also identify who needs to review and approve the revision.

3. How should HR communicate a revised policy to employees?

Explain what has changed, when it takes effect, who it applies to, and what employees need to do differently. Keep the latest version easy to access and provide a channel for questions or clarification.

4. Should employees acknowledge revised HR policies?

For policies where acknowledgement is important, organisations can maintain a record that employees have received and acknowledged the latest version. This also makes digital policy acknowledgement through an HRMS useful for maintaining a clear record.

5. How can HR ensure policies remain consistent across locations?

Maintain a common policy framework while accounting for location-specific statutory requirements and legitimate operational differences. Version control and a central source for current policies can help prevent employees and managers from relying on outdated documents.

About greytHR

greytHR is a full-suite HRMS trusted by 34,000+ organisations and 3.5 million+ employees across 30+ countries. This cloud-based platform helps businesses manage the complete employee lifecycle, including manpower planning, recruitment and onboarding, core HR, leave and attendance, timesheets, payroll and statutory compliance, performance and expense management, and exit. With built-in Agentic AI working across every module, HR teams can surface insights instantly and make data-driven decisions. greytHR is widely recognised for its dedicated in-house support team and strong Indian and GCC statutory payroll compliance.