HR policies and governance for HR consulting: the firm's own policy set, written to the standard it advises
Clients often ask an HR consultancy to show its own policies. A short, current set, including confidentiality and conduct, is both the firm's protection and its best sample.
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Share your requirementsWhy HR policies and governance matters in HR consulting
Many advisory firms run on habit. Leave is agreed verbally, expenses follow the founder's mood, and the code of conduct is a line in the offer letter. This works with five people. With twenty, it leaves room for unfairness and, worse, for a careless act with client data.
A compact set of policies fixes this. Conduct and conflict of interest, handling client data, leave and expenses, travel, use of devices and a way to raise concerns. Each is short, in plain words, dated and owned by a named person. The firm then has something to show clients, and consultants know where they stand.
How to set it up
1. List the policies you need now
Start with conduct, confidentiality and client data, leave, expenses and travel, devices and raising concerns. Do not copy a long template; write only what the firm will follow.
2. Write each in a page or less
State the rule, the reason, who it applies to and who to ask. Use examples from consulting work, such as what to do if a client sends salary files by email.
3. Name an owner and a review date
Each policy has one person responsible and a yearly review date. Keep a simple register showing versions and dates.
4. Brief the team and collect acknowledgements
Walk through the set in one session and let people ask questions. Ask each person to confirm they have read it. Repeat for new joiners.
5. Check the policies against real cases
Once a year, look at situations that arose and see whether the policy helped. Fix gaps. Ask a qualified professional to review the set for legal fit. See HR documentation for storage.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask three consultants where to find the leave and expense rules.
- Check when the confidentiality policy was last read by every consultant.
- Look for any situation in the last year that the policies did not cover.
- See whether each policy has an owner and a review date.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach HR policies and governance in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Yes. An agreement says what you promise the client, while a policy tells your people how to keep that promise day to day. Both matter, and the policy is what consultants actually read.
As short as it can be while covering real situations. Most small firms do well with six to eight policies of a page each. Long documents tend to go unread.
The principals, after input from consultants and a qualified professional on legal fit. Approval by named people shows the firm takes the policies seriously, and makes it easier to hold everyone to them.