Employee handbook
The full guide: code of conduct, leave, hours, expectations, escalation paths, and how the business actually operates day-to-day.
Service
Policy Development
Workplace policies, employee handbooks, and SOPs that protect the business, clarify expectations, and give your team the consistency they need to do their best work.
Why It Matters
Policy isn't paperwork. It's protection, for everyone.
Most service businesses have policies that fit on a sticky note: "we'll figure it out." That works until it doesn't, until the wrongful-dismissal claim, the insurance audit, the acquisition due diligence, the harassment complaint, the IT incident.
Good policy isn't bureaucracy. It's the documented set of agreements that says, in advance, how this business handles the situations that will eventually come up. It protects you, it protects your team, and it protects the people who depend on the business.
We help you write policies that are actually readable, actually followed, and actually defensible, without burying the company in legalese nobody opens.
What We Cover
The policy areas we develop
HR & people policies
Hiring, onboarding, performance, discipline, termination. The lifecycle of an employee, documented.
Health & safety
Especially for trades and field-based businesses, the documented protocols that protect crews and meet regulatory expectations.
IT & security
Acceptable use, password and access management, data handling, incident response.
Operations SOPs
Standard Operating Procedures for the recurring work, checklists and step-by-step references that make consistency the default.
Client & vendor policies
Engagement terms, change orders, communication standards, payment terms. The "how we work with clients" rules.
Our Approach
Policies that actually get read
A policy nobody opens is worse than no policy at all, it creates a false sense of coverage. We write differently.
Plain language
No legalese unless it's load-bearing. The team should understand what's expected on first read.
Decision-oriented
Each policy answers a specific question. "What do I do when X happens?", not abstract principles.
Versioned & living
Policies update as the business and the regulations evolve. We design for review cadence from day one.
Legally reviewed
We coordinate with your legal counsel (or refer one) so finished policies are defensible, not just well-written.
We're operations consultants, not lawyers. Final legal sign-off happens through your counsel, we make their job easier and faster.
Common Questions
Policy development, answered.
When is a written policy actually required?
A document is a policy (rather than an SOP or a guideline) when any of four tests is true:
- A law, regulation, or contract requires it in writing.
- Violating it exposes the business to financial or reputational damage.
- It defines a behavioural commitment the business is making to its people or customers.
- Inconsistent application would cause friction across the team.
If none apply, the document is probably an SOP or a guideline, not a policy. Detail in Policy Development: When, What, and Who Polices It.
What baseline policies does every service business need?
A working set of 10 to 14 policies across five categories:
- People and conduct: code of conduct, anti-harassment / EEO, workplace violence prevention.
- Employment: leave and time-off, remote / hybrid work, performance and discipline, grievance.
- Financial integrity: conflict of interest, expense and travel, gifts and hospitality.
- Data and technology: privacy (PIPEDA / PIPA / GDPR as applicable), acceptable use of tech and AI, information security.
- Safety: occupational health and safety where industry-relevant, drug and alcohol for regulated trades.
What's the difference between a policy, an SOP, and a guideline?
Policy, a rule with consequences for violation. About risk, compliance, ethics, or accountability.
SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), the steps to perform a task. About execution. The consequence of deviation is quality variance, not formal review.
Guideline, a recommended approach. About good practice. The team uses judgement; no formal consequence for a different approach.
Treating all three the same way over-promises on guidelines and under-respects policies. Both errors hurt the business.
Who should 'police' the policies?
Every policy needs three named people:
- Owner, responsible for keeping the policy current. Schedules annual reviews. Signs off on changes. Typically a leadership team member.
- Enforcer, notices violations and handles them. Sometimes the owner; often a manager. Needs documented authority to act.
- Reviewer, independent party that audits whether the policy is being followed. Could be the COO, an external advisor, or the board.
Policies without named owners are policies in name only.
How often should policies be reviewed?
An annual review per policy, owned by the named owner, is the minimum cadence. Policies that touch statute (privacy, OHS, employment) should also be reviewed any time the underlying law changes.
Policies should also be revisited when an event in the business surfaces a gap, a near-miss incident, a regulatory change, a contractual addition. Without an active review rhythm, policies drift out of step with reality and the team's trust in the document set drains.
Do we need an AI use policy now?
Yes, if your team is using AI tools in any work capacity (which they almost certainly are by 2026).
The policy should specify: which AI tools are approved (with the relevant subscription tier, consumer-tier tools usually train on your data, business and enterprise tiers usually don't); what kinds of business data can go into which tools; who to ask when unsure; and what to do if a tool surfaces something it shouldn't have.
A one-page policy is enough. The absence of one is the bigger problem. See The AI-Powered Workplace as Competitive Advantage for the substance the policy should encode.
Time to put policy on paper?
Let's scope what your business needs, where the urgent gaps are, and what an engagement would look like.