Draft a Workplace Policy and Rollout FAQ (In-House or Outside Counsel)
Go from stakeholder input and existing policies to a plain-language workplace policy with every location-dependent provision flagged, plus an employee FAQ and manager talking points that match the policy text.
When to use this
Use this when the business asks for a new or revised policy, such as remote work, expense reimbursement, or a handbook section, and you need a first draft that reflects what stakeholders actually want. It fits in-house counsel drafting for their own organization and outside counsel drafting for a client. Claude organizes the inputs, drafts the policy, marks every provision that may vary by jurisdiction, and writes the rollout materials, while counsel verifies the legal requirements.
Policy work rarely starts with a clean brief. It starts with an email thread from HR, a few comments from finance, an old policy nobody has updated, and a request to have something ready for the next leadership meeting. The legal risk is usually not in the headline rule; it is in the details that change by location, such as notice periods, leave, pay timing, expense reimbursement, and employee privacy.
Claude handles the drafting load well. It can pull the goals and constraints out of scattered stakeholder input, point out where the request conflicts with existing policies, draft the policy in plain language, and produce an employee FAQ and manager talking points that match the policy word for word. Just as important, it can mark every provision that may depend on where employees work, so those provisions get checked rather than assumed.
Claude should not supply state or local requirements from memory, and the prompts below tell it not to. Every [JURISDICTION] flag is a research task for counsel. The policy, the FAQ, and the talking points are drafts for attorney review, and any bargaining, notice, or acknowledgment obligations need to be confirmed before rollout.
The Workflow
Set the context and load the inputs
Tell Claude about the organization, the policy topic, where employees work, and who approves the policy. Paste existing related policies and the stakeholder input, each in its own document tag. If you are outside counsel, note that the organization is your client.
PromptI am [IN-HOUSE COUNSEL AT / OUTSIDE COUNSEL TO] [ORGANIZATION], a [DESCRIPTION, e.g., 400-person software company]. We need a [NEW / REVISED] policy on [TOPIC, e.g., remote and hybrid work]. - Employees work in: [LIST STATES, COUNTRIES, OR "unknown"] - Unionized or covered by a collective bargaining agreement: [YES / NO / UNKNOWN] - Policy approver: [ROLE] - Target rollout date: [DATE] <document name="existing_policies"> [PASTE RELATED EXISTING POLICIES OR HANDBOOK SECTIONS] </document> <document name="stakeholder_input"> [PASTE EMAILS, MEETING NOTES, OR REQUESTS FROM HR, FINANCE, LEADERSHIP] </document> List what you received and flag anything that looks incomplete. Do not draft yet.
What you get: An inventory of the inputs with gaps called out, such as a referenced policy that was not attached.
Build the requirements brief
Before drafting, have Claude turn the inputs into a short requirements brief. This is the document to confirm with HR and leadership so the draft reflects decisions that have actually been made.
PromptUsing the inputs, prepare a requirements brief with these sections: 1. Business goals: what the policy must accomplish, each with a quote from the stakeholder input 2. Decisions already made: rules stakeholders have clearly agreed on, each quoted 3. Open decisions: where stakeholders disagree or have not said, with the competing positions quoted 4. Conflicts with existing policies: quote both the existing policy text and the conflicting request 5. Constraints: budget, systems, timing, or workforce facts mentioned in the inputs 6. Questions for HR and leadership: numbered, each one answerable in a sentence Do not resolve open decisions yourself. Do not add legal requirements in this brief; we will flag those in the draft.
What you get: A one- to two-page brief. Send the questions to the right people and paste their answers back before drafting.
Draft the policy in plain language
With the brief confirmed, have Claude draft the policy. Ask for the standard structure and plain language employees will actually read.
PromptDraft the [TOPIC] policy for [ORGANIZATION] based on the confirmed requirements brief and these answers to the open questions: <document name="answers"> [PASTE ANSWERS FROM HR AND LEADERSHIP] </document> Structure: 1. Purpose, 2. Scope (who is covered and who is not), 3. Definitions, 4. Policy rules, 5. Procedures (how to request, approve, or report), 6. Exceptions and who may grant them, 7. Enforcement, 8. Related policies, 9. Effective date and revision history. Write in plain language at a level a new employee can follow. Use short numbered sections. Keep any language from existing policies that the brief says to keep, and note where you did. After the draft, list every place where you made a drafting choice the brief did not settle.
What you get: A complete draft policy and a short list of drafting choices for counsel to accept or change.
Flag every jurisdiction-dependent provision
This is the step that protects the draft. Have Claude mark each provision whose legality or required content may vary by location. It should describe what to verify, not state the answer.
PromptReview the draft policy and mark every provision that may vary by the location where employees work, for example notice requirements, leave, final pay or pay timing, expense reimbursement, overtime or scheduling, employee monitoring and privacy, required postings or acknowledgments, and anything touching protected activity. For each, return: Section number | Quoted text | [JURISDICTION] flag | What counsel should verify (the question, not the answer) | Locations from our list that it may affect. Do not state any specific state, local, or national requirement from memory. If you believe a requirement exists, phrase it as a question to verify under [APPLICABLE RULE]. Then insert the flags into the policy text as [JURISDICTION: verify ...].
What you get: A flag table and a flagged copy of the policy. Each flag is a research item for counsel.
Write the rollout FAQ and manager talking points
Once counsel has resolved the flags, have Claude write the employee FAQ, a short announcement, and talking points for managers. Every answer must match the policy text, with the section cited, so the rollout materials do not create promises the policy does not make.
PromptUsing the final policy below, draft three rollout pieces. <document name="final_policy"> [PASTE THE FINAL POLICY] </document> 1. Employee FAQ: 8 to 12 questions employees are likely to ask, each answered in two to four sentences with the policy section cited, e.g. (Policy s. 4.2). If the policy does not answer a likely question, list it separately under "Not answered by the policy" instead of answering it. 2. Announcement: under 200 words, from [SENDER], explaining what is changing, when, and where to find the policy. 3. Manager talking points: one page covering what to say, what not to promise, how to route exception requests, and who to contact with questions. Nothing in these pieces may go beyond or soften the policy text.
What you get: An FAQ with section cites, a short announcement, and a manager sheet, plus a list of questions the policy leaves open.
Attorney review before rollout
Counsel verifies every [JURISDICTION] flag, runs the final draft past the compliance-checker prompt as a second look, and confirms any bargaining, notice, translation, or acknowledgment obligations before the policy is announced. Check the FAQ and talking points against the final policy text after any last change.
Example Output
Illustrative example — names, facts, and figures are fictional.
JURISDICTION FLAGS (excerpt; fictional organization: Fernhill Analytics, Inc.) Employees in: [STATE A], [STATE B], [COUNTRY C] Section | Quoted text | What to verify 4.3 | "Employees working remotely will be reimbursed for internet costs up to $40 per month." | [JURISDICTION: verify whether any work location requires reimbursement of necessary business expenses beyond this cap, and on what basis.] 4.6 | "The company may monitor activity on company devices at any time." | [JURISDICTION: verify notice or consent requirements for electronic monitoring in each work location.] 6.1 | "Requests to work from another state for more than 30 days require HR approval." | [JURISDICTION: verify tax, registration, and employment-law consequences of employees working from new locations; confirm with tax advisors.] EMPLOYEE FAQ (excerpt) Q: Do I need approval to work from home two days a week? A: Yes. Hybrid schedules are approved by your manager using the request form, and approvals are reviewed every six months. (Policy s. 5.1) Q: Will the company pay for my home office chair? A: The policy covers internet costs up to the monthly cap and a one-time equipment allowance listed in the policy. Other items need advance approval under the exceptions process. (Policy s. 4.3, s. 6.2) Not answered by the policy - Whether hybrid schedules change during the company's annual close period. Suggest HR decide before rollout. DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW. Jurisdiction flags are research items, not conclusions.
Tips
- •Do the requirements brief even when you are in a hurry. Most policy rewrites happen because the first draft encoded a decision nobody had actually made.
- •Ask for the list of work locations up front. A policy drafted for one state and rolled out to five is the most common source of trouble.
- •Keep the [JURISDICTION] flags as questions until counsel answers them. Do not let a flagged provision go out with the flag deleted and the question unresolved.
- •Require section cites in the FAQ. They make it easy to catch an FAQ answer that promises more than the policy says.
- •For a second pass, paste the final policy into the compliance-checker prompt with the list of work locations.
- •Save the requirements brief with the policy file. It records why each rule exists when the policy comes up for revision.
A note on confidentiality
Policy inputs often include internal deliberations, compensation and headcount details, and sometimes information about specific employees or complaints. Remove names and individual employee details that the policy does not need, use a Team or Enterprise plan whose commercial terms do not use your content for training (or confirm your consumer-plan privacy settings), and treat stakeholder input shared with counsel as potentially privileged. The policy, FAQ, and talking points are drafts for attorney review: counsel verifies every jurisdiction-dependent provision and any cited authority against current law before rollout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Claude tell me what each state requires for this policy?
Not reliably from memory, and this workflow tells it not to try. Claude marks every provision that may vary by location and phrases what to verify as a question. Counsel answers those questions from current primary sources for each work location.
Does this work for in-house teams as well as outside counsel?
Yes. The steps are the same; only the context in Step 1 changes. In-house counsel describe their own organization, and outside counsel describe the client and note who approves the policy on the client's side.
Why draft the FAQ from the final policy instead of alongside it?
Because the FAQ is what employees will rely on. If it is written before the jurisdiction flags are resolved, it can repeat language that later changes. Drafting it from the final text, with section cites, keeps the two consistent.
What should happen before the policy is announced?
Counsel resolves every [JURISDICTION] flag, the policy approver signs off, and counsel confirms whether any bargaining, notice, translation, or acknowledgment obligations apply. Then check the FAQ and talking points against the final policy one more time.
Prompts used in this workflow
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