Church HR Policy Handbook-New Year’s Resolution (Part 2)

So in working on your New Year objectives, you have finally decided to address some of the HR needs within your church by working on a Church HR Policy Handbook?  It is always a great idea to have grandiose plans for implementing new processes and standardization plans, but are you going to follow through this year?  If so, here is the second half of the Top 10 Things to consider.

6.  Consult Legal!  This is huge.  If you do not have an Employment Attorney on staff with your denomination, I would strong urge you to search for one to review the final draft of your policy.  If you do not want to use an attorney, I would urge you to at least consider using an HR Professional or Christian Management Consulting to review your Church HR Policy Handbook before releasing it to your paid and volunteer staff.

7.  Do a full Roll Out!  Be sure to have a staff meeting or church meeting to discuss the beginning of the Church HR Policy Handbook Era within your church.  This is critical since you would not want to hold either staff or volunteers against a policy they knew nothing about. Also, it is a great way to send the message to the church that you are focused on instilling proper HR and ethical business practices within the church while still maintaining your church vision.  If you do a soft release, you run the risk of minimal exposure and buy in as well as potential claims of unfair treatment down the road.  Have a party, have a meeting, have an offsite, do whatever it takes to ensure your prized Church HR Policy Handbook is introduced correctly.

8.  Have an acknowledgment receipt signed.  This is separated from #7 simply because it is that important.  In a way, this suggestion helps force you to do #7 correctly!  Having the staff and volunteers sign an acknowledgment receipt for your records allows you to use this Church HR Policy Handbook in the future if needed.  This is a protection for you as the manager/owner as well as the church.  Be sure to keep this receipt in the file either for the revision of the Church HR Policy Handbook or you can choose to keep the receipt in the individual employee file for record.  Regardless, get it signed and get it filed!

9.  Show your hand!  This means give the good, bad and the ugly, all on the table.  For example, you want not only to address the proper dress code, but you will also want to outline the actions following violations of the dress code.  Again, full disclosure is the best way to prevent potential issues in the future and will reinforce the need for the Church HR Policy Handbook.

10.  Be prepared to use it!  This has to be one of the most frustrating points for me.  After spending a great deal of time with clients, developing a Church HR Policy Handbook or just a regular company handbook, I find out later that the leadership does not use it.  What is the point I ask?  If you implement the Church HR Policy Handbook, then you have to be prepared to refer to it, use it, and sometimes even enforce it!  It would almost be the equivalent of Moses showing everyone the 10 Commandments, but not enforcing them or referring back to them as standards.  Develop your Church HR Policy Handbook with purpose and resolve to use it when you need it.

I hope to spend some time on various topics within the Church HR Policy Handbook.  If you would like some help in preparing for the Church HR Policy Handbook or would like to engage someone to write it for you, please feel free to contact Christian HR Consulting at christianhrconsultinggroup@gmail.com.  We have resources available to help take the hard work and labor out of this process economically.

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About the Writer:

Trent Cotton has spent a number of years in management and business consulting. After spending some time in the field, he joined the HR department, beginning in recruiting and eventually serving as the Department Head of HR for one of the major lines of business. With such a varied background, he works to bring all of these together to help churches and other Christian organizations incorporate some common business practices into their ministries to enable them to better serve the Kingdom. He currently works for SourcePointe, an HR Outsourcing Agency while continuing to own and operate Christian Management Consulting as a ministry. In his free time, he also writes a lot on Church Development as a Church Consultant.