Why is policy management important?

Policy management is critical. Your employees need easy access to the right policies, procedures and forms so they have the correct information to carry out tasks, perform their roles and make the right decisions. When employees don’t follow the right policies, there are a number of potential risks. Similarly, staff involved in creating or updating policies need to follow robust processes to ensure the right people are consulted in drafting policy, and perhaps also to satisfy regulatory and audit requirements. Outcomes can range from minor to very serious, such as if somebody is not carrying out the right processes relating to health and safety. When policy management is not carried out properly, typical issues include:

• Failing to be compliant to various regulations, opening an organisation up to regulatory or even legal action
• Problems relating to brand and reputation, either with customers or the public
• Inefficiency and lower productivity, caused when actions need to be corrected because people aren’t following the right processes
• Employees being put at risk, with an organisation failing its basic duty of care for its people.
• Damaged plant equipment as a result of an employee not knowing correct procedures for use.
• An organization fails an audit and is fined or loses its licence to operate.

What are the challenges of policy management?

Policy management isn’t always easy. It might sound simple and straightforward, but there are always some associated challenges.

Achieving increasingly complex regulatory compliance

Regulated industries tend to have an increasing number of requirements to minimise risk. Organisations need to achieve complex regulatory compliance, and then demonstrate this compliance to the regulator, often by showing that all employees have read and understood a particular policy, or that policies have been regularly reviewed by the board. The practicalities of carrying this out can be challenging.

Managing documents with multiple versions and multiple stakeholders

Policy management is an ensemble effort. There are usually multiple functions that might manage policies and standard operating procedures, including HR, IT, Finance, Health & Safety, Quality, Legal and more. For each of these functions, there may be multiple policy documents of which there might be multiple versions circulating, especially if users are emailing policies and downloading them to their personal drives. Managing complex policies to effectively minimise risk is not easy.

Training new and existing staff on policies and SOPs

When a person joins a company, they are usually required to read a number of policy documents or standard operating procedures relating to professional conduct, use of IT services or learning safety procedures, for example. Additionally, policies will be updated or introduced from time to time, and it will be necessary for all employees to read these or be aware of the changes.

Let’s be honest – most policies aren’t exactly a riveting read, and when your employees are already maxed out, getting them to digest them can be challenging. Doing this when many of us are still working remotely is even harder.

Tracking employee attestation through policy reads

Even if you can get your employees to access a policy, how do you know they have actually read it, and how do you show a regulator or leader that they have agreed to adhere to it? Keeping track of who has attested to a policy and who needs to be chased is a hugely challenging task that can require a substantial administrative overhead without the right approach.

Keeping documents up to date

Policy owners are very busy, and it can be an effort to get them to keep documents up to date, especially when review and approval is required from multiple people.

What are the benefits of policy management software?

Successful policy management software helps organisations resolve many of the challenges and pain points associated with policy management, delivering several headline benefits.

Minimise critical risks

Fundamentally, policy management software makes employees aware of the policies relevant to them. This minimises risks across many aspects of organisational life, from operating machinery safely to following the right GDPR protocols.

Achieve regulatory and legal compliance

Policy management software can help organisations achieve regulatory compliance by ensuring and demonstrating that employees have read policies and are following procedures accordingly. By following the right policies, you are also minimising the risk of falling foul of legal compliance issues. The good news is that data from policy management software shows that your organisation is doing what it can to enforce policies.

Streamline and automate policy management

As we’ve already established, policy management can involve a significant administrative effort. Organisations can rack up both time and cost in creating new policies, keeping them up to date and tracking readership. There is also the risk of data errors when things are done manually, with many tasks carried out over email and tracked in spreadsheets. Policy management software streamlines and automates aspects of policy management, removing the administrative burden, improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Support policy distribution and collaboration

The great thing about policy management software is that it supports the highly effective distribution of policy documentation, usually by keeping everything in a single central hub. This also supports effective policy collaboration, involving the multiple teams and support functions involved in policy management.

Help line managers keep their direct reports compliant

Line managers often play a crucial role in an organisation's compliance with its policies. They need to ensure their direct reports are reading and understanding policies. Policy management software gives line managers the dashboards they need to track which of their people haven't read policies that affect them and their jobs.

Document control to support trust

Policy management software will almost always incorporate document controls to ensure the right people are responsible for the right documents, and that the latest versions are being displayed. These controls help to drive employee trust in the fact that they are accessing the right policies. This is often refered to as the “single source of truth”.