Bring the Same Discipline to Your Own Policies That You Bring to Your Clients'
Firms spend their days advising others on compliance and are often less tidy about their own. We help you write HR policies that managers can apply, control their versions, refresh the annual declarations people sign, give every obligation an owner and a date, and keep the records an inspection or an audit would ask for. You decide the policies and confirm what applies with your own advisers; we make the whole set orderly.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsThe starting point
Are Your Own House Rules as Tidy as Your Clients'?
A firm's policies often exist in an old handbook, a few partner emails and the memory of the office manager. Independence, confidentiality and conflict declarations may be signed at joining and never again. Renewals, filings and licences for the firm itself are tracked by whoever remembers.
We help you write fewer, clearer policies, put owners and dates against obligations, and keep records ready.
You may be experiencing:
- A handbook that predates the second office, the remote-work arrangement and several practices.
- Policies that exist in more than one version, with nobody sure which applies.
- Annual declarations on independence, conflicts, confidentiality and outside interests missed or collected on paper and misplaced.
- Obligations of the firm, such as registrations, renewals and returns, carried by a single person with no deputy.
- Decisions on leave, travel and expenses made differently by each partner because the policy is unclear.
- Staff unable to say what the firm expects on technology use, client data handling and social media.
- Preparation for a client or regulator inspection of the firm's own records done in a rush.
What we can help with
Our Policy, Compliance and Governance Services for Professional Services Firms
Policy Review and Gap List
Gather the policies and practices that exist, compare them with how the firm works today and list what is missing, outdated or contradictory.
HR Policy Manual
Write the policies a manager needs, such as leave, attendance, travel, expenses, remote work and conduct, in plain language, with a short statement of who may approve exceptions.
Employee Handbook
A shorter document for staff, written from the manual, covering what a person needs to know about working in the firm, with acknowledgement on joining and on revision.
Confidentiality, Conflict and Independence Declarations
Design the declarations professionals sign, the timing of refresh, the process for disclosure of a new interest and the person who reviews them. The content of declarations should be confirmed with your professional adviser.
Technology and Client-Data Rules
Set working rules for devices, email, messaging, cloud storage and client files, so that staff know what is allowed, where documents may be kept and how losses are reported.
Version Control and Acknowledgement
A register of policies with owner, version, date and review date, and a way for staff to acknowledge each revision, with records of who has and has not.
Compliance Calendar
A calendar of the firm's own recurring obligations, such as registrations, renewals, returns and reviews, each with an owner, a deputy, a due date and a place where the evidence is stored. Confirm the obligations themselves with a qualified professional.
Records and Periodic Review
Define what HR records are kept, for how long and where, prepare a checklist for inspections and audits, and set an annual review of policies against practice.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, you receive:
- A review of existing policies with a gap list.
- An HR policy manual.
- An employee handbook.
- Declaration formats and a refresh calendar.
- A technology and client-data rules summary.
- A policy register with version control and acknowledgement records.
- A compliance calendar and a documentation checklist.
Step by step
How We Work
Collect What Exists
We gather the handbook, circulars, partner emails and templates, and talk to the office manager and HR about how decisions are really made.
Draft the Policies
We write in plain language and mark each point where a partner decision is needed, such as an approval limit or an exception.
Confirm With Your Advisers
Policies that touch obligations are checked by the firm's own legal or compliance adviser before release. GullyHR does not give legal advice.
Issue and Acknowledge
We help roll out the manual and handbook, collect acknowledgements and run the first declaration refresh.
Set the Calendar and Review
We build the compliance calendar and the annual review, record a baseline and report against it after a cycle.
The difference
Policies People Can Apply and Duties With Owners
A tidy policy and governance set helps the firm to:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering policies in current version, declarations collected on time and obligations with a named owner, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Give managers a written basis for routine decisions.
- Know which version of each policy applies.
- Collect declarations on schedule and review them.
- Give every recurring obligation an owner and a deputy.
- Find records quickly when a client or an auditor asks.
- Review policies against actual practice each year.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Firms With an Outdated Handbook
Which have grown past the rules written for them.
Firms Preparing for Client or Regulatory Scrutiny
Where their own house must be in order.
Multi-Office Firms
Where policy has drifted from one city to another.
Engineering and Design Consultancies
Where site rules, software licences and client data need written rules.
Staffing Companies
Where client-site rules and the firm's own rules must work together for deployed staff.
How it usually shows up in professional services
Professional firms tend to know their clients' regulatory calendars better than their own. HR policies are commonly a handbook drafted once, often copied from a larger firm, and then amended by partners' emails. Different versions circulate, and managers apply what they remember. Policies on confidentiality, conflicts of interest, independence, information security, outside work and gifts matter more here than in many sectors, because a lapse reaches clients. The firm may also have obligations from its professional body or regulator on staff qualifications, training records and conduct, and the evidence is spread across files. Registrations, licences and renewals for the firm and its professionals are tracked by an individual, not on a shared calendar. When a client or regulator asks for records, the work of assembling them falls on whoever knows where to look.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in professional services
Several versions are in use
Nobody can say which handbook or policy is current, and partners apply their own reading.
Confidentiality policies are signed once
Undertakings and conflict declarations are collected at joining and never renewed or checked.
Renewals depend on one person
Registrations, licences and membership renewals sit with an individual and not on a calendar.
Records take time to assemble
A request from a client or regulator sets off a search across files and inboxes.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Write the policies people use
A handbook with plain rules, covering confidentiality, conflicts, independence, information security, outside work and gifts. The HR policies and governance work produces it.
- 02
Control the version
One current version, a date, an owner and an acknowledgement from each employee when it changes.
- 03
Refresh declarations
Conflict and independence declarations renewed on a schedule and when a new engagement begins.
- 04
Keep a compliance calendar
Each obligation, renewal or filing with an owner and a date, reviewed monthly. See the compliance framework.
- 05
Prepare the records
A standard file per person and per obligation, so the evidence can be produced without a search.
What to check this week
- Ask three managers which policy version they follow and compare the answers.
- Check when the last conflict declaration was refreshed for each fee earner.
- List the renewals due in the next quarter and who owns each.
- Time how long it takes to produce one employee's qualification and training record.
- Confirm with a qualified professional which obligations apply to your firm.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies depends on your establishment, your state and your sector, and it changes. This page describes a practice; it does not state a legal position.
What this looks like in professional services
The parts of policies, compliance and governance that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Professional and Employment Obligations
Where regulatory duty sits alongside employment policy.
What this coversHide
Professional and Employment Obligations
Where regulatory duty sits alongside employment policy.
What this coversHideA professional firm carries obligations from its professional body alongside ordinary employment ones, and the two sets are frequently owned by different people who do not compare notes.
- Professional body obligations tracked alongside employment ones
- Client confidentiality and conflict-check policy
- Independence and ethics policy where applicable
- CPD and practising credential records maintained per individual
- Data handling policy covering client information
- Partner and employee obligations distinguished
- Named owner per obligation, with review dates
- Records retained for professional and regulatory purposes
Practising credential tracking is the item most often assumed to be each individual's own responsibility, and it is the firm that is exposed when one lapses.
Questions on this, in professional services
No. GullyHR does not give legal advice. We write policies in plain language and organise them, and you should confirm the obligations that apply to your firm with a qualified professional before relying on any policy.
As short as it can be while covering what people need. A shorter handbook that people read does more than a long one nobody opens. We usually put detailed rules in the manual and a summary in the handbook.
That is for the firm and its advisers to decide. We build the process so the chosen interval is kept: a reminder, a form, a reviewer and a record, with a route for a disclosure made between refreshes.
Each recurring obligation of the firm, its due date, the owner, a deputy, the evidence kept and where it is stored. We help you build it from your advisers' list. We do not decide what the obligations are.
Largely yes. We write one core set and mark any local variations clearly, so that each office knows where it may differ and why, and so that a change to the core policy reaches every office together.
Yes. Policies, versions, acknowledgement requests and reminders can be configured on the GullyHR platform or in your own system, with a record of who has acknowledged which version.
Confidentiality, conflicts of interest, independence where relevant, information security, outside work, gifts and conduct. Standard leave and attendance policies matter too.
Set a regular cycle and also ask for a fresh declaration when someone joins a new engagement. Confirm your own obligations with a qualified professional.
On a shared calendar with a named owner for each, reminders well before the date and a place where the evidence is held.
It shows the policy was communicated and gives managers a basis to apply it. Acknowledgement should be recorded each time the policy changes.
Put the Firm's Own Rules in Order
Tell us what your handbook covers today and where you feel exposed. We will discuss how to tidy the policies and the calendar around your firm.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
The general method — what policies, compliance and governance covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the hr policies and governance page. What is above is the part that differs for professional services.
To run this in a system rather than on paper, see policy and document centre.
Other HR topics for professional services
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for professional services, or another industry.