20 Apr in  Uncategorized

HR Policies: How to Develop User-Friendly Policies & Procedures

 

HR policies

Policies. If you work in HR, you’ve probably been accused of having too many of them. Those critics might not be wrong.

 

You’re responsible for maintaining a work environment in line with company values, keeping compliance with the law, protecting the company from legal claims, ensuring that all employees are treated fairly, spelling out clear procedures so that management makes predictable decisions, and making sure employees are aware of their benefits, rights, and more.

 

There are even policies that govern how to make HR policies. And as if it weren’t already challenging enough, you are expected to put it all in writing.

 

We understand why your company wants that, though. An exemplary company HR policy will put employees at ease by letting them know what to expect, and put the company at ease by making rules easier to enforce, protecting itself from litigation.

 

Understanding your policy affects your bottom line: The pharmaceutical industry could be losing nearly$50 million annually because of employee misunderstanding

 

HR departments consistently struggle with creating policies, because, on the one hand, they want something that is all-encompassing and properly written; which is what the higher-ups want.

 

On the other, they want something that increasingly younger employees will actually read; something that is user-friendly.

 

Quick fact: nearly 50% of millennials don’t read most of the employee handbook

 

What if you didn’t have to choose? What if you could have a clearly written and definitive HR policy covering all the bases and something that was visually stunning, simple to navigate, and easy to read? This isn’t some crazy HR fantasyland, it’s Soda PDF.

 

Here’s how you can start doing it today.

 

First, why don’t employees read their handbooks?

Nobody likes to mention it in the workplace, but there is the belief that most employees don’t read and understand their handbooks. It’s the elephant in the room (or office in this case).

 

Also, most companies admit they can’t strike the right balance — a wordy, block-of-text-having, overly dense company policy written in some dialect of legalese will be tucked away on an employee’s bookshelf under the premise that they’ll “get to it tomorrow.” But, get too casual and employees won’t know what to expect, or worse, you might not protect yourself from the long arm of the law.

 

Old-school methods of teaching people about regulations, benefits, and policies just don’t reach people the way they used to. That’s a big problem in a world where employee misunderstanding costs companies $37 billion dollars a year.

 

These days, you’ve got to be creative. Your key to creating HR policies that people will be willing to read comes down to user experience, or, more specifically, how easy and fun the manual is to read.

 

How to create user-friendly HR policies with Soda PDF

Creating a policy that employees will read is easy with Soda PDF.

 

If you want to create a visually stunning digital document that’s easy to look at, scroll through, search, and understand, then we’ve got the features to make it happen (the content is still all on you).

 

Here’s how Soda PDF makes it easy:

1. Bookmarks

If you can always remember which page you were on, kudos to you. We can’t. Creating bookmarks so readers can keep track of where they are is easy.

 

Just click on the Bookmark icon in the side panel and hit Add. For more info on how to add bookmarks, check out the tutorial video below.

 

2. Hyperlinks

With hyperlinks, you can easily link readers to helpful articles, entertaining videos, or other sections of the document. Imagine how much better a 401(k) policy will stick in everyone’s minds if you link to an article projecting their earnings!

 

3. Search Words

Employees often go looking for specific information. Being able to search words will help them find and locate the most important information quickly.

 

4. 3D Mode

Your policy is already great, but imagine how much better it would be in 3D! This view mode emulates reading a real book and lets employees “turn the page” by scrolling with their mouse.

 

5. Images and Watermarks

Articles with images get 94% more views. Adding images will help make your manual more fun and easier to read. Feel free to insert a watermark for extra branding.

 

Tutorial video: How to add a bookmark in Soda PDF

HR policies are important, but what good are they if nobody reads them?

 

With Soda PDF, you can easily create a user-friendly handbook that is useful to employees and gets read with just a few clicks and a bit of creativity.

 

Related posts:
How to organize your HR department

How to simplify employee onboarding with E-Sign

                       

 



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