Policies are unilateral contracts.  One party gets to make the rules.  The other party gets to follow them.  In the workplace, for example, we’re subject to employment policies.  If we don’t like a particular set of rules we can go work somewhere else.

One of the downsides of being subject to a policy is that you typically have no say over the content.  You’re not the one making the rules.  They are.  You also have no control over how often a policy can get changed.  That gives the policy maker the upper hand.  All you get to do is vote with your feet.

As consumers, we’re subject to the policies of various service providers, such as banks, telephone companies, internet service providers, and yes, social media sites that we belong to. 

When Facebook recently announced that it was changing its privacy policy it caused a tremendous up roar.  Facebook users suddenly realized how vulnerable their information was.   One survey found that nearly 60% were making serious noises about leaving the site.

So what did Facebook do?  It announced an about face (sorry — I couldn’t resist that one).  CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now pledging simplified privacy settings to give users more control.  They are being responsive to their customer base.

And that’s the beauty of policies.  Easy come.  Easy go.  They can be changed in a heartbeat and just as easily changed back again.  

While flexibility is definitely an asset, the Facebook example illustrates how the loss of goodwill should not be underestimated when engaging in policy changes.

If you haven’t read Liz Ryan’s 5 Ways to Ensure Mediocrity in Your Organization, click here.   The insightful article describes five of the most insulting leadership practices and the lifeless, disengaged team members it creates.  From a legal literacy perspective, these leadership practices also serve to turn your organization into a litigation lightning rod.

How?

Well, let’s take Liz’s #1 insulting leadership practice: letting your employees know you don’t trust them.  She says that it causes employees to create the appearance of working without actually getting anything done.  They’re “present” but disengaged.

Being checked-out also means that those employees will have no interest in pointing out that iceberg on the horizon.  Why bother? The lack of trust has created a barrier.  It stifles communications and means problems escalate before they’re visible to senior management. 

More trust yields a better flow of information and allows legal issues to surface and be addressed while they are still small and less expensive to fix.  It’s a win-win situation.  It allows employees to contribute and make a difference and can save your organization time, money, and a ton of aggravation.

Fraud represents a very serious breach of trust and poor judgment in the exercise of legal literacy.  Because it occurs at the intersection of law and finance, fraud can be very costly to your business.

Being able to spot warning signs and stop fraud in its tracks can therefore be a useful and life-saving business skill.  That’s why I wanted to share with you this link from the Journal of Accountancy.  It’s a quiz designed to test your Fraud IQ.  Take it and see what warning signs you may have been missing and then take steps fill in the gaps.

A Sonic Drive-In in Grapevine, Texas pays $31,000 to settle a recent sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  Professional Building Systems of North Carolina pays $118,000 to settle a racial harassment case filed and Celestica Inc., an electronics manufacturer, pays $112,000 to settle a disability discrimination case.  These laws have been on the books for decades; yet, they’re routinely violated.

Failed business policies can subject your company to thousands of dollars in legal liabilities.  Learn how to make your business policies more memorable and more effective.

Register today for the complimentary teleseminar How to Successfully Market Business Codes of Conduct, on April 21, 2010 at 8 pm Eastern, 5 pm Pacific when The No Nonsense Lawyer™, Hanna Hasl-Kelchner, interviews business policy expert Carole Basri.

 Who should attend:

• Entrepreneurs and business owners with up to 80 employees
• Human resource professionals
• Ethics and compliance professionals

What you will learn:

• How to write policies that grab your employees attention,
• Why non-lawyers are the key success to effective compliance,
• Tips to make your business code training more palatable, and
• The most common mistakes employers make and how you can avoid them.

Ms Basri helps businesses create and improve their internal compliance and ethics programs in her role as president of the Corporate Lawyering Group and Corporate Lawyering Association.  She has worked with major such as Dun & Bradstreet, Cendent, and Dannon, among others improve their compliance programs.  She is also an adjunct professor of Corporate Law at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Law. Let her share her years of experience and insights with you. 

Click here to register for How to Successfully Market Business Codes of Conduct.  Submit a question you would like to hear answered during the interview and receive the call-in information free.