There are a few times when communicating your standards of behavior or policies is natural:

• orientation for a new hire
• discipline when an employee breaks a rule
• when an employee asks
• when you change or add rules or policies

Orientation for new hires. Giving employees the work rules at the outset is the best way to make sure that they get off to a smooth start in your business. If employees know what the rules are, they may be less likely to break them.

The amount of detail that your orientation process has will determine how you communicate your policies and rules. For example, if you're hiring your first employee, chances are the orientation process will be pretty informal. You may just want to explain to your employee what standards of behavior you expect. If you have a list of general work rules, now would be the time to either run through it orally with the employee or to give the employee a copy of the list.

Discipline. If an employee, new or established, breaks a rule, as a part of any discipline or counseling process you might have, you may want to consider going over your expectations or rules again to ensure that the employee has an understanding of the rules. While the employee may have known that there was a policy against whatever he or she did, it never hurts to reinforce to the employee what your expectations are. Be sure to ask the employee if he or she has any questions about the rule or policy.

If you choose to document this part of your discipline procedure, you might want to ask the employee to sign a form that states that the employee has been informed of the rules (either orally or in writing) and that the employee understands them. That way, you can use this document to take more severe action if the behavior continues in the future.

If an employee asks. Occasionally employees might be confused about something or not be sure how they should handle a certain situation. Your employees should be aware that they can ask for clarification of rules and procedures when necessary.

If you change a rule or policy. If you change or add certain restrictions to your standards of conduct, it's a good idea to let employees know formally. Either make an announcement, send around a memo, or post something on the bulletin board. Make sure that everyone knows what acceptable behavior is at all times.