The importance of capturing written policies and procedures was on display during a recent unfair dismissal case.
One of the fundamental failings of the employer was their claim that they had Standard Operating Procedures for employees, and that the employee should have read and been aware of these procedures. The employee denied ever seeing this document, so it became imperative that the employer produce the document. However, the Employer was unable produce this Standard Operating Procedure as evidence before the Fair Work Commission.
Whether they never had written policies and procedures for employee conduct, or whether they just couldn’t find where they were located, it is a fundamental mistake, which led to this unfair dismissal claim being upheld.
The learnings from this are clear. If you have policies or procedures, or any other documents that your employees need to be aware of, you need to know where they are. Using an online solution like HR Central means you will always avoid the embarrassment of not being able to produce essential information when dealing with similar circumstances.