How to create an office manual

Home Office Manual
What are your policies and procedures?

For an effective and smooth running working environment, every organisation should have an office manual that lists all policies and procedures. Without one there could be utter chaos as every employee did what they liked when they liked.

Whether you are running a business or an employee based at home you need to approach your office area with the same professional attitude. If you are not, how can you expect to have any real success?

But what should the manual include and are there any items specific to being based at home?

There can be a hundred or more items in an office manual and for employees some of the items may be dictated by head office. What I want to look at more specifically are the items in your manual that will help to ensure an efficient working environment. The manual comprises policies and procedures of activities and how they should be carried out. Imagine that someone other than yourself will be responsible for these activities and write the manual with that in mind.

Paperwork.
We all know there is too much paperwork, but to be as efficient as possible make sure you establish procedures for:

 Incoming and outgoing correspondence.
 Business letter format.
 File names and where they will be stored. Establishing a procedure early on for both paper and computer files will prevent any mix-ups and time wasted hunting for what you need.
 Paperwork you are going to keep.
 How long it will be kept.
 What is to be shredded.
 Archiving system.

Email
Every day we are bombarded with an unbelievable amount of emails. Create procedures to ensure that emails are answered in a timely fashion, while the junk is deleted. Be careful that emails do not take up your whole day preventing you from dealing with important tasks.

 Time frame for responding to emails.
 Email template.
 Email prioritising.
 Guidelines for deleting.
 Filing system.

Finance
This is vital to the survival of any business so have procedures for:

 Accounts receivable.
 Accounts payable.
 Invoicing timescale.
 Invoice template.
 Late payments.
 Payroll.

Employment
Don’t be fooled into thinking that because you work from home that you don’t need to worry about this section. Make sure you establish:

 Working hours.
 Overtime.
 Holidays.
 Dress code in the office.

Client Etiquette
They are so valuable, make sure to decide how best to treat your clients or customers.

 Enquire procedures.
 Meeting with clients.
 Complaints.
 Dress code when with clients.
 All client correspondence.

I have given you a good idea of where to start with your Home Office Manual, the rest is up to you.

By Rachel Ross

Rachael Ross of Purely Peppermint is a home and office organising expert specialising in helping those that work from home. She works with individuals and business by providing bespoke practical solutions for their home office and the issues that arise when being based at home.
www.purelypeppermint.com