CHICAGO — Consistency is one of the most valuable disciplines dry cleaners can instill in their culture, and operations manuals are a crucial tool for accomplishing this. Customers get dependable results each time they visit, and employees know what’s expected and where they can quickly find answers to their questions. 

In Part 1 of this series, we examined some of the reasons why operations manuals are important. Today, we’ll look at ways to get started, policies to include, and getting employee buy-in.

While the operation procedures are the core of the manual, employment policies also deserve to be documented. Amy Harris, owner of Oceanside Cleaners in Jacksonville, Florida, learned this the hard way during an unemployment claim hearing.

“We had terminated an employee, they filed for unemployment, and it was ridiculous,” she says. “They weren’t showing up on time, and they were calling out all the time.” 

But during the hearing, the judge asked about Oceanside’s policy. 

“I was like, ‘Well, it’s to come to work, not be late,’ and so on. The judge then asked, ‘Do you have that in writing?’ And, no, we did not.”

That experience led Oceanside to develop a comprehensive employee handbook, about 20 pages long, covering everything from its mission statement and core values to specific policies on attendance, time-off requests, performance evaluations and, when it comes to it, progressive discipline.

“If we have people who are constantly late, for instance, we have a policy,” she says. “You’ll get a verbal warning first, second and third, and then on the fourth, it’s grounds for termination.” 

Harris adds that the key is applying these policies consistently: “You have to have the procedure or the policy in writing and treat every employee the same.”

Starting an operations manual might seem daunting at first. Harris recommends an organic approach, beginning with what’s causing confusion.

“I would say start making a list of the day-to-day procedures that come up regularly that stump people,” she says, and suggests keeping a running list covering about three months of questions that arise regularly or situations that only happen occasionally. 

“As you’re doing your day-to-day detailing,” she says, “just make a list of how you start the day. It has to be down to that level.”

Another approach is to have experienced team members document what they actually do. “Have your seasoned employees do that and then everybody compares and narrows it down to what works,” Harris suggests.

When it comes to including HR issues in the manual, Beth Milito, vice president and executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center, recommends beginning with templates rather than starting from scratch.

“The internet is a curse, but it’s also a blessing,” she says. “There are so many resources available that are free online, which is fantastic for small-business owners.” 

NFIB offers a model employee handbook that anyone can download in Word format, she says, and other resources include Rocket Lawyer, Indeed, and many payroll providers such as Paychex.

“There’s absolutely no reason why any business owner should be starting with a blank page,” Milito says, but points out that these are only starting points, not finished documents. “You need to make sure that you are editing it and that it’s going to be a document that will work for your business.”

Milito and Harris each believe that the operations manual shouldn’t be a “top-down” exercise, but instead should involve employees in both its creation and ongoing updates. 

“I think it should be collaborative,” says Milito. “That will better ensure that you have employee buy-in and they’ll know what the policies are.”

For operational procedures, employee involvement becomes even more critical.

“That’s where it can be very helpful to have the employees who are actually performing the procedures, at a minimum, review the policies,” she says. “They can tell you, ‘This isn’t actually how it happens’ here, or ‘This is just not workable’ there.”

Owners and managers who engage their staff and get them to participate also have a better chance of capturing institutional knowledge that they might not even know exists.

“You want to encourage employees to share their knowledge and their expertise,” Milito says. “Sometimes in workplaces, people are hesitant to share what they’re doing well, because then they think other people might get credit for it.”

Business owners can combat this by celebrating improvements.

“Praise them when you see it happening,” Milito says. “You can say things like, ‘That’s a really great improvement you’ve made there. I just noticed how you’re doing X, Y and Z. Let’s get everybody else to start doing that, too.’”

Come back Thursday for our conclusion, where we’ll look at common mistakes cleaners can make with operations manuals and how to keep them current and useful. For Part 1 of this series, click HERE.