How Do You Write Policies and Procedures?

Save Time Writing Procedures Writing Policies and Procedures

Any old policy and procedure format saves time because you are not starting from scratch, right? Not necessarily. A weak starting point can hurt employee usability, introduce confusion and user-error, and miss the compliance and control objectives that made the documentation project necessary in the first place.

When you write policies and procedures, the goal is not to fill a binder. The goal is to create action-oriented, grammatically correct documents with a consistent style and format so employees can understand expectations, follow the process, and improve effectiveness and efficiency.

How Do You Write a Policy?

Your policy expectations are derived from your community, management, and your own company culture. Must employees arrive to work at a certain time? Dress a certain way? Follow a specific approval path before spending company money? These business policies belong in your employee handbook or policy manual because they turn informal expectations into clear organizational standards.

To decide what policy to write first, research the expectations of your community and management, then compare those expectations with the actual risks employees face. A policy should state what the organization expects, who it applies to, and why the rule matters.

Manager reviewing employee policy notes and a handbook at an office desk

What are Examples of Employee Policies?

Your government may expect that you follow the laws of the land. In the U.S., companies deal with laws and agencies that protect the environment (EPA), workers (OSHA), and individuals from discrimination (EEO), unfair pay (FLSA), unsafe products (FDA), leave-rights violations (FMLA), disability access issues (ADA), and other risks. OSHA safety management guidance is one example of how external expectations become internal company policy.

These expectations must be understood by every company that does business in the U.S. and then deployed as company policy. Organizations typically use an employee handbook, required workplace posters, and department-level policy manuals to communicate employee policies.

What are Examples of Company Policies?

Writing policies like this is part of your Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual. Small companies may only need an employee handbook that addresses the most common expectations. In a larger organization with 100 or more employees, you should develop a more comprehensive HR Manual because a larger organization must adhere to more HR laws while a smaller company may have exemptions.

Company policies also cover finance, purchasing, information technology, quality, safety, customer service, sales, and records management. The best policy topics are the ones where employees need consistent guidance before they act.

How Do You Write Procedures?

Your procedure expectations are derived from your process design. Most people start documenting their process first, which is a good first step to understanding how work really happens. The next step is to document process expectations in the procedure itself. What is the objective of this process? Are there expected quality levels, productivity rates, controls, or performance targets?

A well-defined process clearly indicates the performance criteria necessary for consistent results. The goal of your procedures should be to ensure consistency so that anyone who performs the procedure will perform it the same way every time.

Process owner mapping procedure steps with sticky notes before writing documentation

How Many Procedures Do You Need?

Once you realize why you need to write procedures, the next obvious question is what procedures you need to write. Do you need to document all the processes in all departments with procedures? Usually, no. Creating dozens and dozens of procedures is rarely necessary on the first pass. In fact, such an approach can create more problems than it resolves.

Too many procedures can become hard to find, hard to use, hard to update, and easy to scatter as uncontrolled copies throughout the organization, which can become a non-compliance in many audits. If you are just starting a project to create or update procedures, selecting what procedures to write is an important early step.

Where do you start writing procedures? Begin with one department that has mature processes. Create procedures for that department before expanding the project to other departments. If writing quality is a concern, assign an internal reviewer or editor who understands the process, the audience, and the document-control requirements.

Employees prioritizing department procedures before starting a documentation project

What are the Benefits of Writing Policies and Procedures?

An effective policy procedure manual is easily understood by all employees in the organization. So how do you create an effective policies and procedures manual in the first place? Start with the practical benefits you need the documentation to deliver: performance improvement, less confusion, consistent training, and better control of recurring work.

Procedures Help Performance Improvement

Writing company policies and procedures is the first step in performance improvement. If you want to improve, then you have to establish a baseline for improvement. A written procedure captures the current expected method, which gives managers and process owners something concrete to measure, train, and refine.

If your policies and procedures are already written but incomplete, outdated, or inconsistent, then you are probably not driving the performance improvement you intended. If you write company policies and procedures with clear responsibilities and controls, you are one step closer to improving your business, saving money, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Policies and Procedures Eliminate Confusion

Written policies and procedures eliminate confusion, shorten training time, and save employees from having to find someone to answer the same questions over and over. They also protect process knowledge from leaving with one experienced employee.

Supervisor using written procedures to train an employee at a workstation

Procedures Improve Results

To be confident you are using a procedure template that gets the job done quickly and correctly, examine its basic elements before writing. A strong template makes the procedure easier to read, easier to audit, and easier to revise.

An ISO 9001 compliant procedure format for easier readability, aligned with the broader ISO 9000 quality-management family
A clear and concise header block to ensure a procedure communicates the purpose and scope
Clear department responsibilities that identify who does what
Key term definitions to reduce confusion
Measures of effectiveness to quantify outcomes
References to related documents to improve usability
Listing of applicable laws or regulations to communicate compliance
Detailed list of revisions to track edit history
Forms to ensure proper control and record keeping

Quality manager reviewing a structured procedure template with records and forms

Writing Procedures Documents

Selecting what procedures to write for a department is closely related to understanding why we write procedures. What are the compliance issues? What are the most important risks that need to be addressed? What processes require a high level of control, and where is improvement needed? Prioritize those areas first, and you have selected what processes should be documented by procedures.

Process Documentation

The idea is to select and develop procedures in phases: by department and by degree of importance. Work within a department and develop procedure manuals or documents only for the processes that meet your criteria for why you write procedures. In a first-pass document development project for a small to medium organization, you might typically develop 5 to 12 procedures for a department, depending on the size and complexity of the organization, as well as compliance issues.

Department Documentation

In the long run, starting slowly in a focused way can produce dividends and make for a smoother, more efficient documentation project. Focusing only on top-tier priority procedures within each department in the first pass allows process owners and department members to integrate the procedures into their department documentation and operation.

Then, when the documentation project returns to develop another tier of procedures, the department can assist in providing meaningful feedback on how useful and accurate the existing procedures are. The same department can also help select what, if any, processes should be documented with procedures in the second pass phase.

Department team reviewing a process map before writing procedure documents

Procedure Writing Templates Save Time

With more effective and efficient features, you can finish your policies and procedures project sooner. A core set of best-practices policies and procedures templates will begin to save you time right away.

Even a simple process map can be a huge improvement over your current procedure development process. Too often, organizations start their journey somewhere in the middle, at procedure template design or procedure writing, instead of at the appropriate starting point: project management. Like a castaway on a raft, the team can feel dropped into the middle of the sea without a sense of where it came from, where it is going, or how it will survive the journey.

Download a Free Sample Procedure

To help you get started, download a free policies and procedures MS-Word template. Use this procedure document as a guide to get started, then adapt the structure to your department, process maturity, risks, and compliance needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Start Writing Policies And Procedures?

Start writing policies and procedures by defining the business reason for the document, choosing one mature department or process, and documenting the expectations that already guide the work. A strong starting point explains the objective, responsibilities, performance criteria, related records, and revision controls before the first full procedure is drafted.

What Is The Difference Between A Policy And A Procedure?

A policy states the expectation, rule, or standard the organization wants followed. A procedure explains the repeatable steps employees use to carry out that policy consistently.

How Many Procedures Should A Company Write First?

A company should usually start with a focused set of important procedures in one department rather than trying to document every process at once. For a small to medium organization, a first pass might cover 5 to 12 high-priority procedures, depending on process maturity, risk, and compliance needs.

Why Are Written Policies And Procedures Important?

Written policies and procedures reduce confusion, shorten training time, support compliance, and create a baseline for performance improvement. They help employees understand what is expected and how work should be completed.

What Should A Procedure Template Include?

A procedure template should include a clear header block, purpose and scope, responsibilities, definitions, measures of effectiveness, references, applicable laws or regulations, revision history, and related forms or records. Those elements make the document easier to use, control, and update.