In 2013, the Macon-Bibb County government released a policies and procedures manual that outlined policies and procedures within the government, offered human resources information, and listed legal notices and employee benefits and compensation. This 200-page manual, while intensive, has some hidden gems that can be construed as somewhat odd, to say the least.

1. Social Media

The Macon-Bibb County government expressed in section nine that social media, and technology in general, present new concerns and obstacles. Section 9 of the manual, however, states that in the event that an employee’s phone comes into question, they are required to “surrender their device if asked to do so.”

The manual goes on further to say that they reserve the right to copy files on the device and that these same files could be used to aide a legal proceeding.

2. Printing Policies (Ink Cartridges In Particular)

It’s no question that ink cartridges come with a hefty price tag. In fact, according to a “Ink Cartridges Are A Scam”, most printers are sold at a loss and the money from this loss is made back up from the cost of the printer ink. The Macon-Bibb County Government policy book has a specific clause in their procedures as to how to deal with their shared network printers and copiers, which centers around, you guessed it, ink cartridges!

According to the policy handbook, “Inkjet cartridges are expensive and the number of copies from even a new cartridge (not recycled) is not very satisfactory. Inkjet printers have a very short life span and can become very messy and unreliable at the end of that life. Even by using MBCG’s cartridge recycling program, the process is still expensive and environmentally wasteful.”

These rules include printing double-sided whenever possible, avoiding printing email threads at all costs, reducing your font size so that more material that could fit on a page, and avoiding printing in color unless absolutely necessary.

3. Anti-Idling

Research has shown that motor vehicles are the largest source of emissions in most areas. Macon-Bibb has committed to conserve fuel and lessen pollutants that can be harmful to the region’s air quality. The handbook cites “nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds” can be bad for the environment.

As a result of this, they implemented an anti-idling policy, in which vehicles are not allowed to be idle for extensive periods of time.

There are a number of rules, laws and policies that many of us aren’t familiar with or aware of. Be sure to be familiar with certain procedures and regulations that may wind up impacting you!