Act as an experienced workplace-policy writer. Draft a clear, fair, enforceable policy from the inputs below. This is a working draft for review, not legal advice or a substitute for applicable law, collective agreements, or existing company rules. Policy subject and objective: [POLICY SUBJECT AND OBJECTIVE] Organization and audience: [ORGANIZATION AND AUDIENCE] Existing policies and governing requirements: [EXISTING RULES AND REQUIREMENTS] Operational process and owners: [PROCESS AND OWNERS] Known edge cases and constraints: [EDGE CASES AND CONSTRAINTS] Produce a policy draft in this order: 1. Title, owner, effective-date placeholder, review cadence, purpose, and scope. Define who and what are covered, plus explicit exclusions. 2. Definitions for terms that could be interpreted differently in practice. 3. Policy statements using plain, testable language. Separate mandatory requirements from guidance; avoid vague words such as “appropriate” unless you define the decision standard and owner. 4. Procedures in numbered sequence: request or reporting channel, required documentation, approval authority, timing, confidentiality or records handling, escalation, and communication. 5. Exceptions, accommodations, and non-retaliation or fairness safeguards where relevant. State who can approve an exception, the criteria, recordkeeping, and review period. 6. Roles and responsibilities, enforcement or consequences only where supported by existing rules, related documents, and an implementation checklist. Create a short issue log for conflicts, missing authority, ambiguous terms, local-law differences, and process steps requiring HR, legal, privacy, security, labor-relations, or executive review. Do not invent laws, company practices, disciplinary consequences, approval powers, or employee obligations. Before answering, check that each requirement has an accountable owner and that the policy does not conflict with any supplied rule. Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [POLICY SUBJECT AND OBJECTIVE] | State the policy topic, the behavior or process it governs, and the outcome it should achieve. | Remote-work equipment reimbursement; give employees a consistent route to request necessary equipment while controlling spend. |
| [ORGANIZATION AND AUDIENCE] | Describe the organization, jurisdictions, worker types, and teams covered by the policy. | US software company with 180 employees in 14 states; applies to full-time US employees, not contractors. |
| [EXISTING RULES AND REQUIREMENTS] | Paste relevant handbook language, contracts, laws, regulations, standards, or internal requirements. | Existing expense policy requires itemized receipts and manager approval over $500; California employees may have additional reimbursement rights to review. |
| [PROCESS AND OWNERS] | Describe the actual workflow, systems, approvers, records, and teams responsible for it. | Employee submits request in Expensify; manager approves business need; IT approves standard equipment; Finance reimburses in the next payroll cycle. |
| [EDGE CASES AND CONSTRAINTS] | List likely exceptions, accommodations, cross-border issues, deadlines, or known points of disagreement. | Accessibility-related equipment, replacement after damage, employee moves, and requests for nonstandard monitors. |
How to use
- Collect existing handbook language and the actual operating workflow before drafting; a policy cannot repair an undefined process.
- Paste legal or regulatory language as source material but have the appropriate reviewer confirm jurisdiction-specific obligations.
- Check that every employee instruction names a channel, deadline, owner, and exception path.
- Follow up with: “Create a manager-facing implementation guide that uses the same definitions and flags decisions requiring HR review.”
Variations
Policy gap review
Use this to assess an existing policy before revising it.
Review this workplace policy: [CURRENT POLICY]. Compare it with these governing requirements and related policies: [REQUIREMENTS]. The organization and jurisdictions are [ORGANIZATION AND LOCATIONS]. Produce a gap table with policy clause, ambiguity or conflict, operational consequence, owner to consult, and proposed revision principle. Check scope, definitions, approval authority, records, privacy, accessibility, exceptions, enforcement, and review date. Do not claim legal compliance or invent requirements. Clearly separate a drafting issue from an issue needing counsel, HR, security, privacy, or labor-relations review.
Manager procedure
Use this after policy approval to make implementation consistent.
Turn this approved policy into a manager procedure: [APPROVED POLICY]. The operating systems and owners are [SYSTEMS AND OWNERS], and common scenarios are [SCENARIOS]. Produce a one-page decision flow, numbered steps, required documentation, escalation triggers, response-time targets if supplied, and employee communication templates. Preserve the policy's wording where it assigns rights or obligations. Do not create new approval levels, eligibility rules, or consequences. Flag any workflow instruction that the approved policy does not support.
Employee announcement
Use this to explain a new or revised policy to employees.
Write an employee announcement for this policy change: [POLICY SUMMARY]. The effective date is [EFFECTIVE DATE], affected groups are [AUDIENCE], and the action employees must take is [REQUIRED ACTION]. Produce an email of 180-250 words with what is changing, why, who is affected, effective date, practical next steps, where to find the full policy, and a contact channel. Use plain language and do not make legal claims or promise outcomes beyond the approved policy. Check that dates, audience, and required action match the supplied information.
Tips
- Policy language should tell a reader what happens next: who acts, through which channel, by when, with what record, and who decides exceptions.
- Define terms that carry operational consequences, such as “business necessity,” “remote employee,” “confidential information,” or “reasonable expense.”
- Keep policy rules separate from the procedure manual; the policy should remain stable when a software tool or approval form changes.
- Test the draft against difficult cases such as leave, disability accommodation, contractor status, cross-border work, and conflicting manager decisions.
FAQ
Can AI write a company policy from scratch?
It can create a structured draft, but the organization must supply its real process and have the appropriate HR, legal, privacy, or security reviewers validate obligations and wording.
How long should a workplace policy be?
Long enough to define scope, rules, ownership, exceptions, and records. Put detailed clicks, forms, and examples in supporting procedures so the policy remains usable.
Should a policy include disciplinary consequences?
Only if existing authority supports them and the organization intends to apply them consistently. Broad consequences are usually safer than invented, rigid penalties.