Write HR Policies Your Managers Can Actually Apply
HR policies and governance is the work of deciding what your employment policies should say, writing them plainly, setting who may approve a change, communicating them so employees understand what they have signed, and reviewing them on a fixed schedule. Governance is the half that keeps a policy alive rather than a file dated the year it was written.
HR Policies and Governance in brief
HR policies and governance is the work of deciding what your employment policies should say, writing them plainly, setting who may approve a change, communicating them so employees understand what they have signed, and reviewing them on a fixed schedule. Governance is the half that keeps a policy alive rather than a file dated the year it was written.
- GullyHR is an HR consulting, HR services, training and software company based in Bengaluru, working with Indian startups and small and medium businesses.
- HR policies and governance sits within GullyHR's HR management consulting pillar, alongside role design and HR compliance framework.
- You end the engagement holding the actual documents: the policies, the handbook, the code of conduct, the approval route and the review calendar. Not a list of policies you ought to have.
- What a policy commits you to, such as leave entitlement or where a disciplinary matter escalates, is your call. GullyHR lays out the options and drafts the wording.
- Scope and sequence are agreed after a consultation. Statutory wording is checked, and a qualified professional is coordinated where a point needs one.
The starting point
Would Two Managers Reach the Same Answer?
Policies rarely fail because they are badly written. They fail because nobody owns them, nobody can say who may change them, and managers hold different versions. The text drifts away from practice, and the first person to notice is usually an employee in a dispute.
We settle the position before drafting, write it plainly, and put an owner and a review date on every policy.
You may be experiencing:
- Two managers applying the same leave rule differently, each able to quote the line they relied on.
- A code of conduct taken from a template and never read against how the business actually runs.
- A policy changed because someone senior said so in a meeting, with no record of who approved it or when.
- Managers working from an attendance policy saved to their own desktop years ago.
- New joiners signing the handbook acknowledgement on day one, among a stack of forms, without opening it.
- An employee asking something the policies do not answer, an answer invented on the spot, and it becoming precedent.
- Not having read your own HR policies since they were written, and not trusting what is still accurate.
- A policy written for one location or entity being used at another, with nobody sure which version governs.
- Employees asking where a policy is kept and being sent a different file by each person they ask.
- Remote work, data handling or AI tool use being settled in group chats rather than written down.
- Leave and attendance rules in the policy that differ from what the HR system is actually set to do.
What we can help with
Our Policy and Governance Services
Policy Positions
For each policy we work out the underlying decision with you first, with what each workable option costs and commits you to, so the text records a choice rather than disguising an unmade one.
Policy Review Against Practice
Each current policy checked against how the business really runs, against the other policies that touch the same subject, and against statutory relevance, flagged for a qualified professional where it matters.
Employee Handbook
A plain-language document covering what matters to a person day to day, kept separate from the fuller policy manual that managers and HR use, so an employee will genuinely read it.
Code of Conduct
Conduct expectations covering professional behaviour, conflict of interest, confidentiality and use of company resources, specific enough to be used out loud in a conversation.
Manager Guidance
Written guidance on handling leave, attendance, performance and disciplinary situations, with the borderline cases worked through, so a manager has more than a copy of the policy.
Approval Framework
A defined route for proposing, reviewing and adopting a change, naming who may propose, who reviews and who approves, sized to your structure so changes stop being informal edits.
Communication and Acknowledgement
A launch plan for each new or revised policy: what is said, in what order, to managers first, and a recorded acknowledgement so you can show an employee received it.
Review Calendar
Every policy leaving with a named owner and a date it comes back, plus the triggers that bring a review forward, such as a business change or a statutory update.
The scope
What the Consulting Covers
Policies only work as a connected set: a leave rule touches attendance, a conduct rule touches discipline, and a change to one needs the others re-read. The scope is agreed with you and can take all twelve areas or only some.
Policy Inventory and Gap Assessment
A list of every policy, circular and standing instruction in use, with what is missing, duplicated, contradicted or out of date.
Policy, SOP, Handbook and Code of Conduct
A clear division of what belongs in a policy, a procedure, the employee handbook and the code of conduct, so each document has one job.
Hiring, Onboarding and Employment Terms
Policy positions on recruitment, referrals, probation, confirmation and the standard terms you offer, drafted from the decisions you take.
Attendance, Leave and Working Hours
Reporting times, leave types, approvals and exceptions, aligned with how the business and your HR system actually run.
Conduct, Discipline and Grievance
The expected standards, the route for raising a concern and the steps a manager follows, with formal actions flagged for specialist review.
Workplace Conduct and Harassment Prevention
The policy wording, reporting route and communication plan for regulated conduct subjects, prepared with qualified professional input.
Remote, Hybrid and Flexible Work
Eligibility, expectations, equipment, availability and approval for work done away from the office.
Information, Data and Technology Use
Confidentiality, company systems, personal devices, employee data handling and the use of AI tools at work.
Pay, Expenses and Benefits Policies
How reimbursements, advances, allowances, incentives and benefits are claimed, approved and recorded, based on the entitlements you decide.
Separation and Exit Policies
Resignation, notice, handover and settlement positions, kept consistent with the exit process and your letters.
Entity and Location Variations
One policy set with documented differences for each entity, site, state or employee category, rather than separate drifting copies.
Document Register and Version Control
A single register naming each policy, its owner, version, effective date and next review date, with an archive of superseded versions.
Working together
Ways to Work With Us
Policy Review and Gap Assessment
A structured read of every policy you have against practice and statutory relevance, closing with a prioritised list of what to write, revise or retire.
Full Policy and Governance Build
The complete engagement: policies developed or revised, handbook and code of conduct written, the approval framework set and the communication planned.
Governance for an Existing Set
Where the policies are broadly sound, a focused piece of work adding what is missing around them: ownership, approval, versioning and review.
Annual Policy Review
A recurring engagement that revisits the set on the agreed calendar, or after a business or statutory change, and updates wording and versions.
You take the policy decisions, such as entitlements and notice terms. We draft the wording that follows. GullyHR is not a legal practice, so statutory content is flagged for a qualified professional.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the scope of your engagement, deliverables can include:
- New and revised HR policies for the areas in scope, each carrying a version number and an effective date.
- An employee handbook written in plain language for a general employee audience.
- A code of conduct with specific, usable behaviour expectations rather than statements of intent.
- A manager guidance note on applying leave, attendance, performance and disciplinary policy, with borderline cases worked through.
- A written approval framework naming who may propose, review and approve a change to any policy.
- A communication and acknowledgement plan, including the manager briefing and the acknowledgement record format.
- A policy review calendar naming an owner and a next review date against every policy.
- A briefing session for managers and HR on how the set is meant to be used and maintained.
- A policy register listing every policy with its owner, version, effective date and review date.
- A gap and conflict report showing where policies contradict each other or differ from practice.
- A one-page guide explaining what belongs in a policy, a procedure, the handbook and the code of conduct.
Step by step
How We Work
Collect and Test What Exists
We gather every policy, circular, handbook and standing instruction, including the ones that live in email, then ask managers and HR how things are actually handled and mark where practice and paper have parted.
Confirm the Positions
Where a policy involves a genuine choice, we put the workable options in front of you with what each one costs and commits you to. You decide before drafting starts.
Draft in One Voice
New and revised policies, the handbook, the code of conduct and the manager guidance are written in one consistent voice and cross-referenced, so they do not quietly contradict each other.
Design Approval and Version Control
Who may propose a change, who reviews it, who signs it off and how it is recorded, sized to your structure. Drafts are reviewed with department heads and finalised with a version number and date.
Communicate and Set the Review Calendar
Managers are briefed first with the questions they are likely to be asked, employees told after, and acknowledgements recorded. Each policy is given an owner and a review date. Where it is included in the engagement, one policy is taken through the full cycle as a pilot, from approval to recorded acknowledgement, and the process is refined before the rest are issued.
The difference
What Governed Policy Gives You
A governed policy set helps you:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering which policies exist today, which conflict and which are out of date, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Get the same answer from two managers facing the same situation, because the policy and the guidance are both written.
- Leave a trail for each change: who proposed it, who approved it, when it took effect and which version it replaced.
- Show that a policy was communicated to a named employee, rather than assume it was.
- Catch an out-of-date position at a scheduled review instead of during a dispute.
- Produce the full policy set on request, from one place.
- Answer a new policy question from a document rather than improvising a precedent.
- See every policy, its owner and its review date in one register.
- Tell employees which document answers which question, instead of pointing them to a folder.
- Apply one policy across locations and entities, with differences recorded on purpose rather than found by accident.
- Bring remote work, data use and technology rules into the written set instead of leaving them to chat messages.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Companies With Inconsistent Application
Businesses where the same policy is applied differently by department, by location, or by who happens to be asking.
Businesses With No Written Set
Companies that have never had a handbook or code of conduct, or have one nobody has opened since it was issued.
Companies With No Change Authority
Businesses where nobody can say who is authorised to change an HR policy, so changes happen in conversation.
Companies Facing Outside Readers
Businesses heading into a funding round, audit or inspection where the policy set will be read by an outsider.
Businesses With a New HR Manager
Companies that would rather hand over a governed set than a folder of drafts.
Multi-Location Groups
Organisations that need one policy set applied consistently across several locations, entities or brands.
HR Teams of One
HR managers who carry policy alongside payroll and administration and need a structure they can maintain alone.
Companies Using Bought Templates
Businesses running policies taken from a template or another company, never fitted to how they operate.
Companies Introducing Hybrid Work
Employers who have moved to remote or hybrid arrangements and need written positions to match.
Good to know
A Clear Life Cycle for Every Policy
From decision to approved policy
- Decide: settle the position with the people who own the decision, with the options and their commitments set out.
- Draft: write the policy in the agreed voice and cross-check it against the rest of the set.
- Approve: route the draft through the named reviewers and record who signed it off, with a version and effective date.
After approval
- Communicate: brief managers first, then employees, with the likely questions answered.
- Acknowledge: record that each employee received the policy and knows where to find it.
- Review: bring the policy back on its calendar date, or earlier when the business or a statutory position changes.
Each stage has a named owner, so a policy does not stop moving because nobody was responsible for the next step.
Good to know
Track the Health of Your Policy Set
Ownership and currency
- Policies with a named owner: whether every policy has someone responsible for it.
- Policies past their review date: which ones need attention first.
- Version spread: whether more than one version of a policy is in circulation.
- Conflicts found: where two documents give different answers to the same question.
Communication and use
- Acknowledgement completion: which employees have confirmed receipt, and which have not.
- Open change requests: proposals waiting for review or approval.
- Questions with no policy answer: situations managers raise that no document covers.
- Time to produce the set: how long it takes to assemble current versions when someone asks.
Measures use agreed definitions and appropriate access permissions.
Good to know
Scope and Service Boundaries
Each engagement defines
The policies, entities, locations, employee categories, deliverables and implementation support included.
Requires a separate agreement
- Legal opinions or compliance certificates.
- Statutory registrations, filings and compliance audits.
- Employment contracts and other legal documents.
- Committee set-up or training for regulated conduct subjects.
- Investigation of complaints or disputes.
- Translation of the policy set into other languages.
- Software licences or document system configuration.
- Ongoing administration of the policy set.
Employment decisions remain with authorised management. Policies, notice terms and formal employment actions should receive appropriate specialist review before adoption.
Good to know
Timeline and How to Prepare
Timeline
The schedule depends on the number of policies in scope, how many decisions need your leadership team, how much the review finds in conflict, and the review slots available. We confirm it after the gap assessment.
Useful inputs
- Current handbook, policies and circulars, including those held in email.
- Appointment and confirmation letter formats.
- Approval authorities and organisation chart.
- Details of entities, locations and employee categories.
- Past disputes or queries that exposed a policy gap.
- Notes from any earlier audit or review.
- Details of the HR system or document store in use.
If these are not documented, we can begin with discussions with managers and HR about how things are handled today.
Good to know
Confidentiality and Employee Information
Handled by agreement
Policy work can expose pay practice, disciplinary history and candid views about managers. Before work begins we agree what we need to see, who may access it, how it is shared, the confidentiality terms and retention arrangements.
Redacted samples and limited access
Where possible, reviews use redacted or sample records, and drafts circulate only to the named reviewers until a policy is approved.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
It is the work of deciding what your employment policies should say, writing them plainly, setting who may approve a change, communicating them so employees understand what they have signed, and reviewing them on a fixed schedule. Governance is what keeps a policy current.
No. We read what you have, keep what is sound and rewrite only what conflicts with practice or with another policy. Existing policies record decisions you have already taken, and discarding them wastes that. The gap assessment tells you how much work there really is.
No. We set out the workable options with what each costs and commits you to, and you take the decision. We then draft the wording. A policy states a position, and the position has to be the business's own.
No. GullyHR is not a legal practice, and we do not state a legal position. We flag where a policy touches a statutory requirement and can coordinate a qualified professional to confirm it. Please confirm compliance with one before relying on a policy.
Documentation builds the wider set: procedures, letters, forms, job descriptions and toolkits. This covers the policies themselves and the governance around them: who approves changes, how they are communicated and when they are reviewed. They are often done together.
By separating what they need. The handbook is short and plain for employees, and the manager guidance is practical, built around the borderline cases managers actually meet. The full manual exists for reference rather than for reading.
It depends on how many policies are in scope and how much conflict the review finds. The timeline is stated in the proposal after the gap assessment rather than estimated beforehand.
No. The set works in whichever document system you already use. Where you prefer the GullyHR platform, it holds the policies with versions, owners and acknowledgements recorded against each employee.
After collecting and reading what exists. The scope names the policies, locations and entities covered, and whether the handbook, code of conduct and manager guidance are included. It is agreed in writing before drafting begins.
Usually when two managers apply the same policy differently, when there is no handbook or code of conduct, when nobody can say who may change a policy, or when an investor or customer asks for documents and what you hold is out of date.
A policy states the position, a procedure or SOP says how to carry it out, the handbook tells employees what matters day to day, and the code of conduct sets behaviour expectations. Giving each document one job keeps them from contradicting each other.
Usually the ones managers are asked about most: attendance and leave, conduct and discipline, grievance, expenses and exit. Which policies are required for your business depends on its size, location and sector, so please confirm that with a qualified professional.
It records that an employee received a policy and was told where to find it, which is useful evidence of communication. Whether it affects what an employer can enforce is a question for a qualified professional.
Yes. We set out the workable positions on eligibility, availability, equipment, data handling and acceptable use, you decide, and we draft the wording alongside the rest of the set.
Yes. We read them against how your business runs and against your other policies, keep what fits, and mark what to rewrite or retire.
Yes. Your HR team takes part in testing policy against practice, holds the approval framework afterwards and runs the review calendar. Where the team is one person, we can carry more of the drafting.
Pricing depends on the number of policies in scope, the entities and locations covered, and whether the handbook, code of conduct and manager guidance are included. Share your requirements and we will send a tailored proposal.
One Policy Set, With Owners, Versions and a Review Date
Settle what each policy should say, write it so managers can apply it, record who approved every change, and bring each one back for review on a calendar.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
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