What effect do employer policies have on the employment relationship?

Authored by Heidi Roberts, Partner, and Alannah Hogan, Lawyer, Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Updated by the LexisNexis Legal Writer team.

An introduction to employer policies and the employment relationship

Most employers have written policies and procedures to govern aspects of the employment relationship with their employees. Commonly, such policies set out the employer’s expectations and requirements in relation to employee behaviour and responsibilities, and processes for dealing with matters like discipline and termination of employment. Many companies also produce policies dealing with employee entitlements in relation to issues such as redundancy pay or productivity bonuses. Some employers collate all their written policies or procedures into one document, which might take the form of a “Workplace Manual” or “HR Manual”.

While some policies may be dictated by law, such as in the case for workplace health and safety, most are adopted by organisations in a bid to standardise and ensure more effective management processes.

Can policies and procedures be incorporated into the contract of employment?

If the parties wish a policy to form a term of the employment contract, this can be expressly provided for in a written contract or agreement. The effect of incorporating a policy into a contract is that the employer and employee will be considered to be bound by its terms.