3 Reasons to Update Your Employee Handbook — Even With A Limited Budget
Update your employee handbooks at least once a year to refresh outdated policies and add new ones.
Executive and HR Directors, I want to talk to you about building new processes and systems to support equity practices. Sometimes when an organization (of any type) makes an explicit committee to racial equity, its leaders are not always clear on how their practice (the way they work) should change. However, a key part of bulding an equitable organization is to focus on systems and processes. How you do that is by reviewing policies, practices, and protocols for alignment with your racial equity commitment, mission, and vision.
Organizational behaviors should align with established policies.
Here is an example:
Two different organizations with comparable growth have made an explicit racial equity commitment. Executive leadership in both organizations is concerned that their internal policies (the way they work) may not align with their new commitment, mission, values, and areas of concern identified by staff.
Example #1: You are the executive director of a small nonprofit with an explicitly stated commitment to racial equity. Your nonprofit focuses on child and family health services and has grown from 8 to 16 people. You’ve heard concerns from staff that there is no clear way to advance in the nonprofit.
Example #2: You are the HR director of a mid-sized research-based consulting firm that in 3 years grew from 40 to 80 people. You have heard concerns from staff that it is difficult to access professional development resources at the same time core job competencies are changing.
Commitments require action.
Review your employee handbook for alignment with racial equity commitments, mission, vision, and values.
Here are three guiding questions:
When was the last time your employee handbook was updated?
Did the update use an approach that centers on the values you hold today?
How do your organizational behaviors align with policies outlined in the handbook?
Systems and processes matter. Organizational behaviors are shaped by policies, practices, and protocols. Even as we examine the systems within our nonprofits, for example, it is critical always to point back to the question: Why does racial equity matter in our sytems and processes?
In the article, How to Dismantle Racism in the Workplace, Carmen Morris, a diversity and inclusion strategist, notes:
Organizational policy and systemically reinforced behaviors are key driving forces behind culture and inclusion. It is within these frameworks that inequalities are allowed to thrive and cultivate negative experiences faced by Black and Brown employees within the workplace.
-Carmen Morris
Systems do not exist in a vacuum but are very much maintained by people within organizations. Executive leaders, you can be put commitment to action by creating new systems that work for everyone. Updating your employee handbook is a solid first step in that process.
I offer two services to align your policies with your commitments, mission, vision, and values:
📑 A review of your organization’s entire handbook for language updates (for example, removing binary language), policies where there is no system to guide staff on how to comply, and updates based on current HR practice or
📑 A selection of policies — up to 5, using the same process but on a smaller scale.
Remember, commitments require action.
For Helpful Tools:
Chek out this podcast episode.
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