By MC Advisory
Sally Ripley, Associated Senior Advisor
As municipalities striving to attract and retain top talent, well-crafted human resources policies can be the key to standing out from the competition. Effective HR policies help create a positive, efficient, and legally compliant workplace—fostering a healthy, safe, and productive environment that enhances the employee experience and strengthens your team’s overall well-being. In order to establish policies, it is important that municipalities are clear on the intended purpose and need behind the policy. Furthermore, you should ensure best practices and legal considerations in establishing the policy.
Policies generally serve one of three key purposes: ensuring compliance, guiding behaviors, and facilitating decision-making. Before implementing a new policy, municipalities must carefully assess its necessity. Is the policy intended to address a specific problem, clarify workplace expectations, or promote standardization and efficiency? Establishing a clear rationale for the policy fosters accountability and encourages buy-in during both development and implementation.
Effective policy in a municipal setting requires broad engagement across the organization. Involving elected officials, department heads, and employees in the development process ensures that policies are purposeful, aligned with municipal objectives, and supported by the Council for approval. Municipalities must also navigate various legal and regulatory considerations, such as compliance with provincial and federal legislation and union collective agreements. By considering best practices, municipalities can ensure their policies are not only compliant but also effective and aligned with broader public sector standards.
In developing effective HR policies, the municipality should establish a consistent framework for its internal policies to ensure clarity, consistency and enforceability. Policies should consist of the following:
- Policy Statement
- Definitions
- Purpose
- Application
- Procedures
- Monitoring
- References
- Appendix
Policies are intended as a management statement on a particular subject. The policy statement describes your expectations related to employee behavior. The statement should be short, simple and easy to understand.
An example of a policy statement:
“The Municipality is committed to providing a safe, healthy workplace that promotes a high level of job satisfaction and a respectful work environment. We believe that it is a shared responsibility of all employees to work towards the constant improvement of our workplace. To assist the organization in maintaining an exemplary work environment, we require that all employees of the Municipality conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner at all times.”
Policies should also include a definitions section, clearly outlining specific key terms utilized throughout the policy. The definitions ensure that there is clarity and understanding as to the intended use of these key terms to promote compliance.
The definitions should be followed by statement of purpose of the policy. Unlike the policy statement, the purpose should be specific and precise – it should be one to two sentences and be clear and goal oriented. It identifies the intent of the policy and what the municipality and management desires to achieve from the policy.
An example of a purpose statement:
“The purpose of this policy is to outline the procedures that the organization will take to address each situation fairly and consistently with due notice to the individual. Furthermore, it outlines how individuals will have the opportunity to correct work-related problems and behaviors.”
The application section clearly communicates who the policy applies to, specifically what type of staff as well as who it does not include.
The procedural section of the policy should generally be concise, outlining how the policy will be carried out. The specific procedures should be provided in a separate document and a briefer procedural section should be included in the policy, outlining the broader procedural requirements. In this section, there should be specific accountabilities (e.g. Management, Employees, Human Resources) as it pertains to responsibilities under the policy.
To conclude the policy, it should contain specific details regarding the monitoring of the policy, specifically who is responsible for ensuring a review of the policy and the frequency of the review period. It is important that policies are reviewed on a regular basis, generally on an annual basis given changes to legislation and organizational need. Furthermore, it is important to consider the feedback of employees on the effectiveness of employees when reviewing and making any amendments.
Finally, the policy should also outline any specific references that pertain to the policy, including: any related policies, standards, procedures, legislation, etc., that the policy must comply or is related to the content of the policy. If there are any supplementary templates, forms or additional information, this should be contained within the appendix section.
Developing effective HR policies is essential for municipalities to help foster an engaged, and productive workforce that compliments the public that the municipality serves. MC Advisory provides a broad range of HR support, including policy development, and can support your municipality to establish core and supplementary policies.
For a complementary HR audit that can explore your municipality’s policy and other HR needs, reach out to a member of the MC Advisory team.
