Читать книгу Digital Etiquette For Dummies - Eric Butow - Страница 66

Communicating in off-hours needs to be an integral part of your employee communication policy. The Human Resources Online website (www.humanresourcesonline.net/global) has a good overview of seven areas of an off-hours communications policy based on the policy of the Singapore Alliance for Action. We think it’s good enough to share with you, so here’s a quick summary of those seven areas:

 Objective: State what the purpose of the policy is, such as the need to strictly limit the criteria for off-hours communication because employees deserve time away from work to be their best selves at work.

 Nature of work: This section talks about the criteria required to call an employee outside of work.

 Expectations: The expectations about when employees should be contacted, such as whether they’re for all employees or just those employees who aren’t formally on leave.

 Communication: This section should include the employees who need to be contacted about a critical business issue. You need to list how you should communicate with each of those employees, such as by way of text, email, or phone call. And the policy needs to tell people what to say during the call, including the issue or problem at hand, what needs to be done, the timeframe, and the preferred ending.

 Employee responsibility: This section needs to explain what the employee is responsible for, such asNot contacting other employees unless absolutely necessaryCommunicating when they will be unavailable, such as in a family emergencyProviding regular feedback during the crisis

 The HR manager’s responsibility: This section lists what the human resources (HR) department is responsible for, includingCommunicating the policy parameters to employees — especially new employeesManaging any concerns and grievances about the policyDetermining whether employees who are unable to respond to work-related matters after-hours should be reprimanded

 Testing: Once the policy is in place, have a limited-time test — such as a few months — and then have a company-wide review of the policy to see whether any changes need to be made.

You can find more information, including a template you can adapt for your own use, from the Singapore Alliance for Action at www.humanresourcesonline.net/hr-guide-to-an-after-hours-communiation-policy.