When to start instituting… by putting down on paper… your store’s policies and procedures?
I vote for Day One.
Why? So you don’t get into this situation:
We only have one employee and she is a friend so making “rules” seems strange for us because they would only apply to her but we are getting ready to hire another part-time helper so it is a natural time to re-think things.
Almost every consignment and resale shop… indeed. many NFP thrift stores as well… start off with the owner, a friend who’s helping out, or an employee who becomes a good friend quickly.
And that’s a GOOD thing.
Most of us have had to learn to be a boss on the fly. There’s no such thing as Boss School, and even if in our past lives we were a manager or a supervisor or even an HR worker (do you hate that phrase, Human Resources, as much as me?), new rules apply when it’s your own shop, your own vision, your own mission.
So it takes a real effort to set down, in words that cannot be misconstrued, how current and future helpers fit into your business. Issues such as discounts and timing and pricing that we discussed yesterday. Issues that arise like sick days and vacations and talking to friends when you’re supposed to be working. Holiday pay, quota-meeting rewards, who has to scrub the bathroom and so on will arise. It’s just a matter of when. So do like the Boy Scouts do…
Be Prepared.
It’s a big job, and not a fun one, and can even be painful if you are uncomfortable setting rules or simply writing. But it must be done for the health of your future empire.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
Make sure you keep your employee manual in a word type program on your computer, too, so you can make changes and adjustments quickly as they come up. I’ve learned over the years some employee will find a way to try to get around the rules somehow.
Good point, Kitty. In addition, each page of your manual needs to be numbered by segment/topic/area, so that you can replace discussions with those which might be longer or shorter, and still be assured that every copy of your manual contains all the pages intended.
Example: Vacation time/ sick leave might be topic IV, containing page 1 of 2 IV page 2 of 2… then, when you add a page, you simply renumber IV page 1 of 3, IV 2 of 3, IV 3 of 3….
(See, those Roman numerals you struggled over in Vth grade DO come in handy!) and you don’t have to totally renumber the rest of your manual.