I recently came across an interesting blog post about the importance of having a social media policy. This got me thinking about the challenges of communicating policies and procedures to employees. By nature, policies tend to be prescriptive and dry, but nonetheless an important part of your company's operations. So, how can you ensure your people understand and comply with your policies? A few tips:

• First, make sure the language in the policy is clear and easy-to-understand. As much as possible, eliminate jargon, acronyms and legal-speak.
• All policy-related communications should answer the question, "What does this mean to me?" Make sure you're helping employees understand why it's important to comply with company policies, and the consequences of non-compliance.
• Use a variety of communications channels to reach employees. People always expect policy communications to come from HR, but if you want your message to "stick" with employees, they need to hear it about from multiple sources. Educate managers and encourage them to do the same with their teams. Incorporate policy-related information in training materials, your employee newsletter and the company Intranet. If a policy is new and particularly important, you may also want to consider a one-off piece like a brochure.

What do you think? Do you have any success stories for communicating policies to employees? I'm looking forward to your comments below.

@annmelinger