HRs Role in Ensuring Compliance with Company Policy vs. the Law
HR's Role in Ensuring Compliance with Company Policy vs. the Law
Is it an HR job to make sure everything is done by company policy, not just the law? The answer to this question is more nuanced than it may initially appear. It depends on the size of the company and the specific roles within the HR department. However, what it does highlight is the complex interface HR operates in, which includes individual employees, supervisory managers, and regulatory agencies.
Understanding HR's Responsibilities
HR departments generally have a wide range of responsibilities, including hiring, training, administering benefits, and overseeing company policy compliance. Yet, the extent to which HR enforces company policy versus following the law varies widely depending on the company's policies and culture.
A Personal Perspective
From my experience as top HR at three successful tech companies in Silicon Valley, I never focused on ensuring strict compliance with company policies. Instead, I worked diligently to discourage the creation and expansion of such policies, aiming to manage the company based on the demands of the tasks and roles required for delivering goods or services.
Employee Handbooks and Legal Prerogatives
During these 30 years, I delved into employment law workshops and learned about employee handbooks. In many cases, these handbooks, which are often heavily relied upon for setting rules and standards, can be better understood as 'Plaintiff’s Exhibit A' - a document that may not offer as much legal protection as employers assume.
Employment attorneys often argue that it is nearly impossible to create a handbook or a book of company policy that significantly improves upon an employer's management prerogatives under existing labor laws. Therefore, the key is to manage the company based on the specific duties and roles required for delivering the business's products or services.
Implications of Overriding Written Procedures
Evidence of an overridden written procedure can lead to complications, especially when an employee follows a supervisor's instructions and something goes wrong. In such scenarios, the supervisor's active presence and awareness of policy provides a safeguard, whereas the written document acts more as a passive reference.
Engaging an HR representative in this process introduces a fourth party, which multiplies the sources of authority - document, supervisor, and HR rep. This scenario increases the likelihood of litigation, as every party can be argued as a source of authority and potential liability.
Conclusion
HR's role is multifaceted and cannot be defined solely through a focus on policy compliance. The primacy of legal compliance is paramount, but the implementation of policies should be aligned with the practical demands of the business. By managing based on the demands of the tasks and roles required, HR can effectively serve the company without becoming an unyielding enforcer of policies.