How to scope an employment policy rollout and find the right legal support

Scope an employment policy rollout as a project: inventory what exists, decide what needs to change and why, draft, have each policy reviewed by someone qualified in the places where you employ people, then communicate and train. You can find legal support for it from a part-time in-house lawyer, an employment law firm or a flexible legal talent provider. This guide is not legal advice and does not state what any policy must say.

Where to find legal support

• Part-time or fractional in-house counsel. A practical choice for managing the project, drafting from your business context and coordinating review. We match lawyers for employment work through Fractional InHouse. Cohere added employment coverage through this model. We confirm the required experience and availability for each engagement.
• Employment law firms. Consider a suitably qualified firm for jurisdiction-specific advice, contested issues or matters needing its specialist resources. An appropriately qualified interim specialist may also advise within their mandate.
• Your HR lead or outside HR adviser. Essential for practicality and for how policies work in daily life.
• Government resources. In the United States, the Department of Labor's Employment Law Guide maps federal workplace laws and points to the underlying statutes. Use it as a starting point, then confirm current requirements with employment counsel.

Step one: take inventory

List the policies and agreements that exist: handbook, offer letter templates, contractor agreements, remote work, leave, conduct, confidentiality and anything specific to a team or place. Note where each applies, who owns it and when it was last reviewed.

Step two: decide the scope

Be clear about why you are changing the policies. Common reasons are growth into a new location, a change in how people work, a gap found in a review or a business decision. For each policy, decide: keep, revise, replace or retire.

Decide whether the project covers one location or several. Employment rules differ by country, state and province, so each place where you employ people usually needs its own review.

Step three: map decisions

Policy work needs business decisions that legal should not make alone. List them early:

• What the company wants to offer, beyond legal minimums
• What it can administer and afford
• Who approves exceptions
• How the policy will be enforced

Assign each decision to a named person with a date.

Step four: draft and review

1. Draft in plain language from the decisions made.
2. Have an employment lawyer qualified for each place check the draft.
3. Have HR check that it can be run in practice.
4. Have managers read it and say where it would confuse them.
5. Revise and approve.

Keep a short log of what changed and why, so you can explain the policy later.

Step five: roll out

• Tell employees what is changing and what is not, before they find out another way.
• Train managers on the parts they must handle.
• Collect acknowledgements where appropriate.
• Set a review date.

Scope the legal support

Write down:

• Which policies the lawyer drafts and which they only review
• Which locations they are qualified to advise on
• Who reviews for other locations
• How many days a week and for how long
• Who decides on open issues
• What a finished project looks like

Questions to ask a provider or candidate

1. Where are you qualified, and where will we need local counsel?
2. Have you managed a policy project start to finish?
3. How do you work with HR?
4. What do you need from us in the first two weeks?
5. How do you handle a policy decision the business has not made?

Checklist

• Policy inventory complete
• Locations listed
• Decisions and owners assigned
• Reviewers named for each location
• Draft, review and approval dates set
• Communication and training plan
• Review date in the calendar