CHICAGO — An operations manual is a key tool to building a culture of consistency in a drycleaning plant. Employees have easy-to-find answers to questions that may crop up, and owners know that their customers are being served with the same attention to detail every time they visit the store.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined some of the reasons why operations manuals are important. In Part 2, we looked at ways to get started, policies to include, and getting employee buy-in.
Today, we’ll conclude by exploring ways to keep documents up to date and useful, along with common mistakes cleaners often make with their manuals.
Keeping It Up to Date
Creating an operations manual is not a “one and done” project. In order to keep it relevant, the document should be reviewed and updated regularly.
“The gold standard is annually,” says Beth Milito, vice president and executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Legal Center. “Realistically, that doesn’t always happen, but I would aim for annually — no more than every 24 months.”
Milito also recommends assigning one person the responsibility of reviewing and updating the manual, because if no one is specifically accountable, updates tend not to happen.
“If two people are responsible, it’s somebody else that’s going to do it,” she says.
Amy Harris, owner of Oceanside Cleaners in Jacksonville, Florida, has found a practical solution for tracking changes. At one Oceanside location, employees use sticky notes to mark procedures that have changed. “Then when someone gets time,” she says, “they will update the details and keep it up to date.”
Make It Useful
No matter how much work and attention go into creating an operations manual, it does no good sitting on a shelf, collecting dust. Part of making this a living document is leading by example.
“Make sure managers are following the processes,” Milito says, “because if the managers aren’t following them, then the employees who report to the managers are going to just blow it off.”
And simplify operation guidelines as much as possible, she adds.
“Making it realistic and attainable is most important,” Milito says. “Nobody’s going to follow a 10-step process for handling a customer complaint.”
For Harris, the manual has proven to be a particularly good training tool.
“It’s invaluable because new hires are taking in a lot of information at the beginning,” she says. “New employees might go days or weeks before encountering a particular situation. Once they’ve been cut loose from a trainer, they can use the manual and don’t have to go back to the trainer and take them away from the job they’re doing to answer a question.”
The format should also reflect how the employee will most likely access the document.
While it’s easier for business owners to update digital documents, physical binders might work better in operations where employees aren’t sitting at computers. Oceanside, for instance, uses three-ring binders with a table of contents and tabs, making it easy for employees to find the information they’re looking for.
The Biggest Mistake
So, what’s the common pitfall in creating operations manuals? Milito points to a lack of customization.
“The biggest mistake I think is cutting and pasting a document and adding all your blue-sky plans,” she says. “‘We’re going to do all these wonderful things.’ You need to tailor it to your actual business.”
She emphasizes that for small businesses, this usually means editing templates down rather than adding to them.
“You’re not necessarily going to need everything that a larger company would need,” she says. “If you only have five employees, for example, you probably don’t want to include a Family Medical Leave Act policy in your handbook, because that’s a federal law that applies to businesses with 50 or more employees.”
Worth the Investment?
Milito and Harris agree that, despite the time and effort required, creating documented operational procedures and policies can deliver measurable benefits.
“Having standardized policies can be really a win-win from both the employee and the customer perspective,” Milito says.
Harris puts it even more directly. Oceanside operated for 25 years without formal systems documentation. The last 10 years with procedures in writing, she says, have been noticeably different.
“It’s been a great tool,” she says. “We should have done it sooner.”
For Part 1 of this series, click HERE. For Part 2, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
