Our People and Culture team is responsible for maintaining a comprehensive portfolio of employee policies and guidelines that govern life at Riipen. Our intent (and obligation) is to comply with all applicable federal, state/provincial and local laws that currently exist as well as provide everyone at Riipen with a clear guide as to what is expected of them:

• Policies: the set of rules we all must abide by, no exceptions
• Guidelines: a set of ideals that we should all commit to trying to abide by wherever possible

Some of these policies and guidelines outline Riipen's commitment to its employees (Parental Leave, Jury Duty, Electronic Monitoring), and some outline Riipen's expectations of its team members (Respectful Workplace, Co-Working, Gender Inclusion, Inclusive Language). These documents live in our Employee Handbook, which was first published in 2021.

As we approach the 5 year mark, we want to undertake a more comprehensive review and update of our Handbook and the policies and guidelines it contains. The branding and style are out of date and need to be refreshed based on our new brand and style guide, but more importantly we want to assess usability, clarity, and compliance with HR best practice. We know our policies and guidelines are not as current, engaging, and clear as they could be, and we want this project to get us there.

This project will give learners the opportunity to learn about the broad spectrum of policies and guidelines that employers must establish, refine, and communicate. They will learn how to balance law, regulation, and best practice with the unique needs of an organization and the culture it hopes to nurture. Learners will get a true HR generalist's view - they will be updating policies and guidelines on everything from Artificial Intelligence to Expenses. Creating and updating employee policies and guidelines to align to both company and industry practices is something most HR/P&C professionals have to do on a regular basis - this projects is one that we hope you can showcase to potential employers as evidence of your hands on experience as a P&C generalist!

Learners will be given full access to our Employee Policies and Guidelines, and asked to complete a full review and update, with a focus on:

• Bringing our policy portfolio up to speed with current best practice: What policies do leading Canadian scale-up organizations like ours maintain? Are there any policies missing from our portfolio?
• Assessing compliance and best practice alignment and addressing gaps: Compare each policy to current relevant federal and provincial guidelines AND leading people and culture/HR best practices for our industry, and recommend updates to close any gaps. Ensure those updates still maintain alignment to Riipen's unique culture and voice.
• Assessing inclusivity and addressing gaps: Review policies with a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) lens: Do our policies use inclusive language (e.g. avoiding acronyms, using gender neutral language)? Do our policies reflect Riipen's commitment to DEIB and make explicit the responsibility of every team member to maintain a safe and inclusive workplace?
• Making them easier to navigate: Consider flow, order of content, individual page organization - if you were a new employee trying to understand Riipen's policies and procedures and how to follow them, would you be able to get that from our policies? Is it easy to find information? Is the information clear?
• Making the policies as engaging as possible: We know that policies aren't exciting, but there are still ways to make them engaging and readable.
• Updating branding and style according to our current guidelines: Many of our policies are published using outdated templates, fonts, etc.
• Improving digital accessibility: Ensuring policies are accessible for visually impaired users.

Additionally, learners will present their findings and recommendations in a concise presentation format, highlighting policy portfolio alignment with Riipen's company practice and industry best practice.