ABSTRACT
Annette, a human resources student who faced workforce management challenges and developed his own professional competence through experience, knew a good bit about staffing and had been involved in employee relations and employee development a good bit. New laws seemed to pop up every day and there had been threats of litigation relating to employment and pay discrimination in the past that she knew little about. Her friend Don was good with poor performers resigning and with employees paid at the top of their pay range getting small or no increases. Annette knew there was a need to communicate to managers just what a policy was: fixed rule, guideline or the starting point for negotiation. She thought the worst situations were those when there was a poor understanding of what policies are and/or why they exist. This often leads to management decisions that happen below HR's radar.
