The Employee Handbook plays a crucial role in providing direction and support to your Human Resource function. It’s the first document your HR needs to draft and distribute across the organization. Employee handbook is the guiding light that navigates workers, managers and owners through different workplace scenario.

This handbook outlines rules, business processes and procedures, workplace behavior, norms, and standard reporting procedures. Your handbook should be easy-to-comprehend and accessible to everyone within the organization.

But are you making certain mistakes that are making your organization vulnerable? Here are some dos and don’ts of developing and managing a handbook.

Dos

  • The employee handbook should educate employees about their entitlement along with what the organization expects from them. There should be no ambiguity. The nature of employee-employer relationship should be predetermined to avoid future problems.  Your handbook should explicitly discuss rights, duties and benefits of employees.
  • The handbook also dictates desirable behavior, workplace conduct, attendance records, discipline rules, and expected levels of performance.
  • Organizational culture can be shaped with an employee handbook. Include your company’s mission, vision, value and purpose and make sure your employees understand it completely.
  • Make sure your rules, policies and performance standards are compliant to recent labor law and relevant to the local culture.
  • Policies regarding employee misconduct and disciplinary actions should be free of ambiguity and communicated openly to employees.
  • Don’t forget to add rules of social media interaction in your handbook.
  • Lastly, update your handbook according to the growth of your business.

Don’ts

  • Don’t copy paste an online template. Each industry, company, and even the department has separate rules, entitlements and code of conduct; design a handbook that’s relevant to your organization.
  • Don’t publish handbook without checking for legal requirement and labor laws in your state. In addition to this, check federal and state laws beforehand, so that your policies are compliant and legal.
  • Avoid making rigid policies for employee performance, leaves and conduct. Leave room for changes. Each misconduct case is unique and can’t be dealt with a standard policy.

Design a well-rounded employee handbook that provides clear guidance and support to your employees. We are a HR consulting firm located in Pennsylvania, providing comprehensive HR solutions to mangers, business owners and HR personals.

In addition to facilitating your basic HR needs, we offer employee benefits consultant services, group health insurance programs and other services to streamline your human resource department. Call 877 355-6070 to speak with our experts.