The company standards They are the set of formal or informal provisions that govern the internal functioning of an administrative organization. For instance: safety rules, coexistence rules, dress rules.
As we know, the norms govern socially acceptable or institutionally necessary conducts, which guarantee correct and harmonious human behavior, either by prohibiting unwanted conducts (prohibitive norms) or allowing desired conducts (permissive norms).
Rules or policies are vital to all forms of human organization, since being internalized by the individuals that make up the group, they make constant supervision and reinforcement unnecessary, since each person acts in accordance with the learned code.
In that sense, all human collectives they have their rules, whether explicit (formal, written somewhere) or implicit (informal, tacit, common sense) to which they adhere.
The total absence of standards leads to anarchy and disorganization, just as poorly designed standards lead to loss of time, energy, or staff discomfort; Therefore, a good policy of standards will be key for the productive coexistence of the workers of any company.
Characteristics of the norms of a company
To function properly, a company’s standards must be:
- Fair. They must be applied fairly and must respond to objective criteria, not to the whims of the leadership.
- Known. In order for the standards to be met, they must be well known to all the personnel they affect. Someone cannot be expected to abide by a standard that they ignore.
- Linked to labor objectives. The rules of a company must tend to the successful realization of the objectives of the company, that is, they must be designed from proactivity and commitment.
- Consistent. A norm cannot contradict itself, nor be contradicted by the others, but they must together operate in a harmonious way.
- Consistent with business values. No rule should set out something that contravenes the spirit of the company or that violates the values by which it is governed.
- Tools. The rules must provide security, confidence and productivity to the workers of the company, and not hinder their work or distract them unnecessarily from it.
Examples of company standards
- Safety rules. These are those that ensure the protection of workers, forcing them to act in a certain way for their own good or to use protective elements to avoid taking unnecessary risks in their work. For example: A rule in a metallurgical company that requires workers to wear protective gloves and goggles at all times.
- House Rules. Those that ensure the healthy and respectful existence of business workers, preventing the behaviors of some from harming others. For example: A standard in an office company that has a dining room as the exclusive food area, so as not to dirty or fill the work environment with odors.
- Dress code. Also called “uniform codes”, these are rules that regulate the way workers dress, maintaining a common code that serves the company to identify its employees or that respects the formal impression of the company on its visitors. For example: A uniform code in a health care company that makes medical employees wear a clean white coat at all times.
- Health standards. Especially important for food handling companies, or for those whose workers may be exposed to health risk conditions, they have to do with the correct arrangement of the elements to avoid diseases, contamination and other health risks. For example: The rules of a food company to keep its inputs free of fungi, bacteria and in good condition for its customers.
- Hierarchy rules. Every human organization has leaders and managers, and this hierarchy is often key to the sustained functioning of the human gear. That is why there are hierarchical norms that distinguish between the leadership and the workers. For example: The hierarchy rules in a company that oblige workers to abide by the authority of those who are above them in the organization chart.
- Protocol rules. Protocol is understood to be the set of courteous attitudes and behaviors that facilitate interaction in respectful situations or when dealing with special guests. For example: A set of rules of protocol in a company that instruct reception workers on how to welcome, attend courteously and even offer a coffee to visitors and customers.
- Legal and legal norms. The legal regulations of any company is the most formal degree of regulation that it has, since it adheres to the criminal and civil codes of the country in which the company operates. For example: A company’s internal auditing standards that allow it to protect itself from significant legal disputes.
- Working rules. Somewhat more general, they have to do with the specific way of conceiving work in the company, and they range between the legal codes of the country and the perspectives of the company. For example: Many large companies like Google have very lax work rules, which allow their workers flexible hours to always have their maximum performance.
- Contracting rules. The acquisition of new employees is also subject to regulations and coordination by the company (and the legal framework in which it operates). For example: Many companies have regulations that prevent discriminatory selection of their staff or that accommodate disabled people on their payroll, as McDonald’s does with children with special needs.
- Archiving rules. Companies dispose of their archives and document libraries based on specific archival standards that are required by specialists (librarians and archivologists) to guarantee the sustained functioning of their institutional memory. For example: The filing standards of a transnational company that is often forced to share documentation and information among its many branches.