SOP Versus Training Manuals

Anonymous

September 12,2023 at 5:28PM UTC

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SOP Versus Training Manuals

My organization has a policy that feels very uncomfortable and clunky for me based on my past experiences. We have created Standard Operating Procedures for several tasks. Over the last year or so, these have become the training & onboarding materials for our new hires. This is great in theory. However, at the initial implementation, these procedures were only to be high-level best practices, not guidelines, thus many lack step-by-step detail on tasks. Problem 2 is that we often times just hand the SOPs to the new hires and guide them once on how to do the task. There's not really any in-depth training (outside of a video that they're assigned to watch) even for our most complex programs. When questions arise from the tasks, they're often redirected to these videos or asked "Have you read the SOP," before giving a straight answer. Today, (Problem 3) I have experienced someone doing this to me a longer-tenured employee asking a question about the process and was told by a supervisor on my team that I should read the SOP as she's going to lunch. I don't know how to approach this with my manager, the supervisor, or the hr team as a whole.

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AnonymousSeptember 24,2023 at 2:02PM UTC
First of all, telling someone they need to read the SOP because they are going to lunch, is bad form unless you have very specific and strict timeframes in which to take lunch, including clocking in and out. (Where I live, lunch is mandated by state law as unpaid, so a lot of places do this.) SOPs should also never be substituted for training manuals. It sounds like yours were written like training manuals instead of being operating procedures, which are guidelines, not detailed task instructions. Whatever the case, and no matter how well or poorly the manuals were written, if they don't include the task you are asking about (I am assuming here, since you are a tenured employee you would know where to look if you had to), you need to bring that up with your supervisor and/or manager, depending on who has the ultimate responsibility for it.
My take on an employee asking questions I feel they should know is that if it they research how to do it, they retain it longer than going directly to the "answer book." If I don't know the answer, I generally let them know, but give them guidance on where to find out, or help them do the research. I wouldn't just send them to a book to find out. Is it possible she didn't know the answer and didn't want to admit it? Which is bothering you, the ask or the way she asked it? Not assisting an employee because of lunch, unless it is an hour-long conversation. The better answer would have been, can we discuss this when I get back from lunch? -or- telling you directly where in the manual the information is.
AnonymousOctober 2,2023 at 2:30PM UTC
I would maybe ask your manager if the SOP is meant to be a training guide - if they say yes, then you can (gently) point out that there is a LOT of information around tasks that is missing, and perhaps, in the new year, the team can budget some time to either flesh out the SOP or create an actual training guide for folks to refer to.