Workplace policies and procedures templates, clause by clause

Twenty five policies, five kinds of risk

Nine deal with conduct and safety: a work health and safety policy statement, anti bullying, sexual harassment, equal opportunity, drug and alcohol, dress code, whistleblowing, staff grievances and a disciplinary procedure. Six deal with money and integrity: expense reimbursement, corporate travel, gifts and benefits, conflicts of interest, cash handling and company vehicles. Five deal with technology: social media, acceptable use, information security, bring your own device and mobile phones. Three cover how people join and grow: recruitment, onboarding and performance management. Two face customers: a refund and returns policy and a complaints handling policy. Each is written for one invented employer, from a council and a private hospital to a cafe and a plumbing business.

What makes a policy usable

Every policy here names who it covers, defines its terms, says what to do and who to tell, and says what happens next. The conduct policies set out how a complaint is made, how it is handled and what support is available, because that is the part a person reads in a hard moment. The drug and alcohol policy lists the triggers for testing rather than leaving them to judgment. All but the two page refund policy open on a cover, most use numbered clauses, and the longest runs to six pages. The safety policy statement ends with the managing director's signature. Twelve are Australian and name the Act that applies, such as the Fair Work Act, the Work Health and Safety Act, the Corporations Act or Australian Consumer Law.

Adapting one for your workplace

Start from the workplace closest to yours rather than the policy title, because a kitchen and a warehouse need different examples of the same rule. Change the employer details, the contacts and the review date, then read each clause against how your workplace actually runs. A policy that promises a process nobody follows does more harm than having no policy. These are examples, not legal advice.

Every page in this collection

• Acceptable use policy template with an honest monitoring notice

  An acceptable use policy has to say which systems it covers, what staff may and may not do with them, what the organisation monitors, and what happens when the rules are broken. This four page policy for a 28 person accounting firm holding records for 1,900 clients does that, with a monitoring table that says what is logged, for how long, and what is never watched.

• Anti bullying policy template with real examples and a complaints timeline

  An anti bullying policy has to define bullying the way the law does, show staff what it looks like in their own workplace, and give them a safe way to report it with a process they can trust. This five page Australian policy for a hospitality group with three venues does that with a definitions table of kitchen and bar examples and an investigation timeline.

• BYOD policy template that draws a line around work data

  A bring your own device policy has to let staff use their own phones for work while protecting client data, and it only works if staff trust what the employer can and cannot do to their device. This three page policy for a real estate agency sets eligible devices, five enrolment steps, a can see and cannot see table, and wipe rights limited to work data.

• Cash handling procedure template with floats, counts and banking steps

  A cash handling procedure has to make every till start with the right float, close with an honest count, and get takings to the bank safely, so losses are caught early and staff are never blamed without evidence. This three page procedure for a cafe with two tills does that with float breakdowns of $200 and $150, six count steps, a four level discrepancy rule and a three day banking schedule.

• Company vehicle policy template for work vans, with private use limits

  A company vehicle policy has to say who can drive, how far private use can go, who pays fines and what happens after a crash, and in Australia the private use rules decide whether fringe benefits tax applies. This four page Australian policy for a plumbing business with 12 vans does that with five driver conditions, the ATO's 1,000 km and 200 km limits, a logbook and a six step accident procedure.

• Complaints handling policy template for a medical centre

  A complaints handling policy has to make complaining easy, set times the practice will meet, and tell patients where they can go if the answer does not satisfy them. This four page Australian policy for a Victorian general practice does that with five channels, a six step timeframes table starting with acknowledgement within 2 business days, seven handling steps and a table of three outside bodies.

• Conflict of interest policy template for a not for profit board

  A conflict of interest policy has to help directors recognise a conflict, declare it early and know what happens next, so decisions stay in the organisation's interest and funders can see that they do. This four page policy for a literacy charity board does that with six worked examples, five declaration rules, five management options and a register of interests.

• Corporate travel policy template with class rules and per diem rates

  A corporate travel policy has to settle how trips are booked, which class people fly, what the business pays each day away and who approves the trip, before anyone reaches the airport. This five page policy for a 38 person sales team does that with a class table by trip length, a per diem table by city tier and six driving safety rules.

• Disciplinary procedure template with a stages table and appeals

  A disciplinary procedure has to make sure every employee accused of misconduct hears the allegation, sees the evidence, answers it and can appeal, with the same steps and outcomes in every department. This four page procedure for a 210 staff hotel does that with a misconduct examples table, five stages with how long each warning stays live, seven investigation steps and an appeal that can never increase the penalty.

• Dress code policy template for a hospital, by role

  A dress code policy has to say what each person wears and why, so the rules protect patients and staff instead of reading like taste. This three page policy for a 180 bed private hospital does that with a uniform and footwear table for seven roles, five bare below the elbows rules, ID and jewellery rules, uniform supply and a fair process for exemptions.

• Drug and alcohol policy template with clear testing triggers

  A drug and alcohol policy has to set a clear fitness for work standard, say exactly when and how testing happens so nobody is singled out, offer real help, and spell out the consequences. This five page Australian policy for a civil construction firm with heavy plant and live traffic does that, with six testing triggers and a zero breath alcohol standard.

• Equal opportunity policy template with the law behind every attribute

  An equal opportunity policy has to name the attributes that cannot be used against anyone, turn that into concrete rules for hiring and promotion, and give people a way to ask for adjustments and to complain. This four page Australian policy for a freight company with 340 staff does that with an attribute table citing each Act and seven recruitment rules.

• Expense policy template with a limits table and receipt rules

  An expense policy has to tell staff exactly what the business pays back, how much, what proof it needs and who signs off, so claims are fair and nobody argues about them later. This four page policy for a 64 person consulting firm does that with a nine row limits table, six receipt rules, four approval levels and a firm 30 day deadline.

• Gifts and benefits policy for council staff, with a $50 threshold and register

  A gifts and benefits policy has to tell staff which gifts they can keep, which they must decline, how to record what was offered and how a gift turns into a conflict of interest. This three page Australian policy for a Victorian council with 412 staff does that with a $50 threshold, a sample register, a declining script and the $500 rule from the Local Government Act 2020.

• Grievance policy template with steps, timeframes and escalation

  A grievance policy has to give staff a safe, clear way to raise a workplace problem and tell them how long each step will take and who decides. This four page policy for a childcare provider with 140 staff does that with a six step table, separate informal and formal paths, an escalation chain that always skips the person involved, and rules for records.

• Information security policy template with a controls table by risk area

  An information security policy has to say which risks matter, which control answers each one, who owns it, and how anyone can check it is working. This six page policy for a 40 person software company serving 610 customers does that in a nine row controls table, then sets access levels, incident response timeframes and the review cycle that keeps it true.

• Mobile phone policy template for work phones, personal use and driving

  A mobile phone policy has to settle what a work phone includes, how much personal use is fine, when a phone must be put away for safety, and what the business can see. This three page policy for a 48 person electrical contractor does that with a six row issued phone table, five personal use limits, a ban on any phone use while driving and plain monitoring rules.

• Onboarding policy template with a 90 day schedule and an owner for each step

  An onboarding policy has to make a new starter productive and connected quickly, which means saying what happens when, who is responsible, and which training cannot be skipped. This three page policy for an 85 person software company does that with a six row schedule from before day one to day 90, seven training modules with deadlines and a buddy program with set hours.

• Performance management policy template with PIP steps and timeframes

  A performance management policy has to show staff how they are measured, how often it is discussed, and exactly what happens, and how fast, when performance stays below standard. This four page policy for a 260 agent call centre does that with a four part review cycle, a weighted scorecard, a PIP with a 4 to 8 week window and four possible outcomes.

• Recruitment policy template with stages, panel rules and child safety checks

  A recruitment policy has to make sure the best person is chosen fairly and, where children are involved, that nobody unsuitable gets through any stage. This four page Australian policy for a Victorian school with 160 staff does that with nine stages, seven panel rules, child safety interview questions, five reference rules and a no start before clearance rule for Working with Children and VIT checks.

• Refund policy template for an Australian online store

  A refund policy has to set out what the law already guarantees, what extra the store chooses to offer, and the exact steps and times for getting money back, without ever suggesting customers have fewer rights than they do. This two page Australian policy for an online homewares store does that with the prescribed consumer guarantee wording, a three row problems table, 30 day change of mind returns and five return steps.

• Sexual harassment policy template built around the positive duty

  A sexual harassment policy in Australia now has to show what the business is doing to prevent harassment, not only how it handles complaints, because employers carry a positive duty to eliminate it as far as possible. This five page policy for a 24 store retail chain sets out the definitions, the preventive measures with owners, five reporting options and a fair investigation.

• Social media policy template that separates personal and official accounts

  A social media policy has to tell staff two different things: how the organisation's official accounts are run, and what they can and cannot say about work on their own accounts. This four page policy for a council with 400 staff puts the two side by side in a table, then sets out what not to post, a disclosure rule and how breaches are handled.

• Whistleblower policy template with an eligible recipients table

  A whistleblower policy has to tell people who can speak up, what qualifies, exactly who they can tell, and how they are protected, in terms that match Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act. This five page Australian policy for a food manufacturer with 150 staff does that with a six row eligible recipients table, a timed investigation path and a quarterly board report.

• WHS policy template for a manufacturing plant, signed by the managing director

  A work health and safety policy has to state what the business commits to, say who is responsible for what, and show how workers are consulted and incidents are reported. This three page Australian policy for a 96 worker plastics plant in Queensland does that in five numbered sections and ends with the managing director's signature.