Pre-written policies and policy manuals

A colleague who is the exec director of a small non-profit asked for assistance in creating policies and a policy manual. Basically, they need EVERYTHING. By April 15....

My thinking is that they should consider BLR or one of these companies that will provide you pre-written policies and policy manuals.

Anyone here have a recommendation? I checked MLS and they dont seem to offer this product (or I didnt look carefully enough).

Thanks.

Comments

  • 16 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • I have a friend who has a non-profit organization for Autism and another who is the President of DSAM of Memphis. I can check with them and see what they have if you get no other leads.
  • Paul,

    You might want to look again. Margaret Morford did have some free sample policies on MLS. I've looked at them several times when updating or developing our policies.

    Here is the link: [url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/[/url]
  • Or have them try the new HRLaws website. You can get a free subscription.
  • Thanks. I suggested Prospera to them. I have heard good things about their services and they appear to offer a large selection of customizable policies and documents.

    My concern is that they push through a lot of policies to meet their deadline (3 weeks??) without thinking through the consequences. In that scenario. no policy might be better than something that you really dont want to have to live with.
  • I used Prospera when they offered a free 90 day trial. Good call.

    Aren't policies living documents that can be updated as needs change? If so, then they should be able to address problems as they arise. At least it is a starting point for them.
  • It seems to me that reading and copying the policies on this site (Margaret Morford's) would be a great starting place. Each one could be read and adopted (with or without minor changes) or discarded within 3 weeks. Then whomever processes them could start over at the beginning and review them more carefully, taking their time and getting advice where needed. The ones on this site are pretty general and useful for a starting point. I believe the SHRM website has some too. There should be enough to have policies in place, even if they need to be modified to be more specific later.
  • I have to agree with Nae. Why pay for something when you can get it free? Besides, I bet MLS doesn't like us mentioning the "other guys", when they have perfectly acceptable products available.

    Tony, do I get brownie points for this post?
  • I have BLR, but I won't renew now that I've seen Prospera through the trial offer. So, tell us more about what MLS has?
  • We have a collection of sample policies in 112 areas. They were originally prepared by Margaret Morford, who's both an attorney and a former VP of HR for several large corporations and is now a consultant who, among other things, helps organizations develop policy manuals. The policies include her commentary on different policy positions an organization might take. We update them to make sure they're compliant with federal law changes.

    There's a link to the policies midway down the main "behind the password" page on HRhero, under the HR Tools heading. The same policies appear on HRlaws. As part of the launch of this new site, Sharon McKnight of our staff has been revisiting the policies and forms we offer.

    We've thought about offering additional alternatives for some of the areas. I know when we have made changes in our own company's policies over the years, we have compared policies from several sources - our own, other products we've purchased, SHRM, similar companies, etc. - and massaged the final policy accordingly. Would that be helpful or just confusing?

    We'd also love to hear any suggestions for policies we ought to have but don't.

    Brad Forrister
    VP Content
  • Paul,
    I have a CD-Rom called Policies Now which helps you create and modify policies. Don't know when I bought it but have never used it. If the non-profit would like to have it I will gladly send it to them, just post their address or I can send it to the same address as the donation. After spending the evening collecting money for my friend's group I know how financially difficult times are right now for those organizations.
  • Another way to find the sample policies that Margaret prepared is by going to the topic pages on HR Hero. At the bottom of each topic page you'll find links to the sample policies that relate to that particular topic. They are available to subscribers to any of the 50 state Employment Law Letters as part of their subscription. Considering you get the monthly newsletter, online access to all the Employment Law Letter articles, and more than 25 special reports in addition to the sample policies, it's a deal.

    Oh and I almost forgot the other really important thing you get with a subscription to the Employment Law Letter. You can participate in the Employers Forum.
  • That explains why I don't know about any of that stuff... I don't have the patience to go through the process of resetting my MLS login info all the time.
  • Frank,
    Are you having log in issues with the forum or hrhero.com/lc? We had thought we had the forum log in issues fixed. Please, anyone who is having any sort of issues, let us know, and we'll do our best to get them fixed. You can e-mail me at [email]cblackburn@mleesmith.com[/email]
    Celeste
  • Response deleted... I should have e-mailed it instead.
  • [QUOTE=KSR6450;715618]Paul,
    I have a CD-Rom called Policies Now which helps you create and modify policies. Don't know when I bought it but have never used it. If the non-profit would like to have it I will gladly send it to them, just post their address or I can send it to the same address as the donation. After spending the evening collecting money for my friend's group I know how financially difficult times are right now for those organizations.[/QUOTE]

    We used Policies Now when we re-did our entire handbook some years ago; it has good basic policies and then you just pick and choose the ones you want to use and personalize them.
  • I believe I bought it at an Employment Law seminar. I am the person who can't leave without buying something - I am a soft touch; maybe that is why they keep asking me to these things?

    If anyone else would like it - along with 'Mandated Benefits', 'The Complete Guide to Human Resources and the Law', '101 Sample Write-ups'... all of which are gathering dust on my shelves, and the list goes on.
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