What is quality policy?

The quality policy is a part of the company strategy, which determines the direction of the organisation in the area of quality. It is a presentation of the path which a given company wants to follow in order to realise a particular quality level. In the quality policy, we will find certain actions concerning the development and improvement of the quality management system of a given organisation. In this document, there is also a declaration of the management on the application of the requirements of international standards and quality standards, continuous improvement, ensuring the necessary infrastructure and human resources necessary for the implementation of customer needs and expectations.

The quality policy is a basic document of the quality management system issued by the top management. The addressees of the policy are, first of all, the customers and employees of the organisation.

The quality policy is a public document. Often, the quality policy can be found in the corridor of the company, in the manager’s office or on the company’s website. It is often accompanied by a classified annex, in which the management defines detailed objectives, which constitutes confidential information.

Quality policy functions

The purpose of the quality policy is to fulfill several functions that affect the operation of the quality management system. These are:

• The basis for establishing objectives and tasks in the implementation of key processes in the organisation.
• Linking the goals and tasks defined in the quality policy to the mission of the organisation.
• Better understanding of the company’s quality strategy by employees and its customers.
• Defining the responsibility of process owners for their implementation at an appropriate level.
• Informing potential customers about the organisation’s willingness to meet their needs and expectations.
• Improving the credibility of the company and creating greater trust among stakeholders.
• Building a positive image of the company in the eyes of the public.

How to create a company quality policy?

The quality policy is created by the top management together with the owners of particular processes in the organisation. Usually these are representatives of all departments in the company. It should be consistent with the mission of the enterprise. The basis for the development of the document is to conduct an analysis of the conditions for functioning of the organisation (for example, by means of a SWOT analysis) and a forecast of the company’s development in the future. Another very important thing is to determine who is the customer and to identify its expectations and needs. Based on this, the management determines the resources and means necessary for the implementation of individual tasks and objectives that contribute to meeting customer needs.

An extremely important activity is also the definition of goals related to the development of the company. These are medium and long-term goals. Remember that the objectives of the quality policy are to lead to continuous improvement of the organisation, and the degree to which these objectives are met must be measurable.

The language in which the document is written must be clear and understandable to all stakeholders – both inside and outside the organisation. All members of the organisation must be familiar with the quality policy. It is a living document, it needs to be reviewed and updated periodically. It is the company’s response to the current market situation. Good practice is to review the policy at least once a year.

Remember that a quality policy characterizes a particular organization. No two quality policies are the same. It is a unique document.

Quality policy and ISO 9001

Documenting, communicating and providing access to a quality policy is one of the requirements of ISO 9001:2015. ISO 9001 also indicates what should be in the policy and what features it should have. First, the this kind of policy should include a commitment to:

• Meeting the requirements – here we mean not only the customer requirements, but also legal requirements, technical standards, industry standards or corporate requirements.
• Continuous improvement – by continuous improvement we understand all activities undertaken to improve the functioning of the organization. These may include: employee training, building a Kaizen system and employee ideas, correcting non-conformities, performing risk analysis and implementing preventive actions, process improvements.

Additional requirements

In addition to the content requirements of the document, there are other requirements that the company should meet.

First, documentation. This requirement is fairly simple to meet. The quality policy should be written down. Usually its content fits on one A4 page. An important element in the document is the signature of the top management, which cannot be missing.

Second, it is communicated. Communicating the content of the document is usually done through mandatory training (e.g. in-service training) for employees on quality. In addition, this document is often printed and displayed in places where many members of the organisation pass by.

Third, accessible. This requirement states that the content of the quality policy should be available to all interested parties. To meet this requirement, organisations usually put this file on the company website.