Policies are broad guidelines as to how the objectives of a business are to be achieved.

“Personnel policies lay down the decision making criteria in line with the overall purpose of the organisation in the area of Human Resource Management.”

A policy is designed to guide the organisational members to deal with a particular situation in a particular manner. It delimits the area within which a decision is to be made and assures that the decision will be consistent with and contributive to business objectives.

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INTRODUCTION TO HR POLICIES

The policies are needed in various areas of personnel management such as recruitment, employment, training, placement, transfer and promotion, compensation, performance appraisal, welfare, etc. Thus, following steps are taken while formulating personnel policies: 1. Preliminary Investigation2. Environment scanning3. Identification of Policy areas4. Analysis of Alternative policies5. Participation of Lower Levels6. Approval of Top Management7. Implementation of Policy8. Policy Appraisal

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FORMULATION OF PERSONNEL POLICIES

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION:-Fact finding is usually delegated to a specialist who collects data from inside and outside the organisation through questionnaires, interviews, and other methods. The facts or data should be adequate, dependable and qualitatively superb.

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ENVIRONMENT SCANNING:-The policy committee should carefully analyse the information available with it. The whole information may be divided into internal environment and external environment. Internal environment deals with physical resources, human resources, organisational structure, values and beliefs, etc. External environment relates to

Social, political, economic, and technological conditions in the country. Monitoring and predicting the environmental changes are important for policy formulation.IDENTIFICATION OF POLICY AREAS:-In

formulating policies, it is essential to specify clearly the areas needing policies.The benefit of specifying area needing policies is that it will help in collecting right type of information.The information may be collected from company’s manuals and other publications, key executives and the publications of government, trade associations, trade unions and other sources. 5

ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVE POLICIES:- It is done on basis of contribution of such policies to the organisational goals. That policy alternative should be selected which is likely to yield the best possible results for the organisation.The policy must be tested before it is given a final shape. Comments and suggestions should be received from the personnel at the lower levels.

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PARTICIPATION OF LOWER LEVELS:-The ultimate choice of policy should be made with the active participation of those who use and live with the result it gives. Those who have put in their contribution at suggestion and fact finding stage will feel committed to it.

APPROVAL OF TOP MANAGEMENT:- Policy formulation committee should report to the top management its considered opinion integrating the members’ judgements and findings.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICY:- The authority required to adopt and launch a policy definitely rests with the top management. Top management alone can decide whether the policy adequately represents the organisational objectives or not.

POLICY APPRAISAL:-The appraisal of appropriateness and usefulness is done. And any serious difficulty with a new or revised policy is to be reported to the top management alongwith constructive suggestions.

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Personnel policies must cover all areas of human resource management. Usually personnel policies are framed with regard to all functions of human resource management as stated below:-

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POLICIES IN VARIOUS PERSONNEL AREAS

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES OR RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION POLICIES:

i. Minimum hiring qualificationii. Preferred sources of recruitmentiii. Reliance on various selection devices such

as tests, reference checks, and interview.

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TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES:-

i. Opportunities for training and development

ii. Basis for Trainingiii. Types of training, viz., on-the-job, or off-

the-jobiv. Programmes of executive development

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TRANSFER AND PROMOTION POLICIES:-i. Rationale of transferii. Periodicity of transfer

iii. Length of service and qualifications required for promotion

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iv. Weightage to seniority and merit in promotion.

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COMPENSATION POLICY OR WAGE POLICY:-

i. Minimum wages and salaries.

ii. Incentive Plans.iii. Profit sharing.iv. Non-monetary

rewards.

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INTEGRATION AND HUMAN RELATIONS POLICIES:-

i. Handling of grievancesii. Recognition of Labour unions.

iii. Workers’ participation in managementiv. Discipline.

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WORKING CONDITIONS AND WELFARE POLICIES:-

i. Kinds and standards of working conditions.ii. Safety programme.iii. Types of welfare services.iv. Financing of employee services.

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HR POLICIES OF

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EXAMPLE:

Training and Hiring Policies.

Recruitment and Selection Policy

360-degree Feedback.

ESTS.

STARS.

GFT.

“Employees share a deep connection and sense of

pride for being associated with the legend that is Taj”

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Its Success Story lies in such Policies: