Employee Handbook Creator

The 5 Things Every Handbook Needs

Your employees are one of your most valuable workplace assets and each comes with his or her own share of personality, work ethic and style of communication. Employees can be complicated! Clearly communicating your workplace goals, expectations and standards doesn’t have to be. Whether you are looking to create a comprehensive document that closely addresses a range of specific policies or you are looking for a bare bones document that simply covers your bases, here are the five most important statements every handbook needs:

• Who you are- The Mission Statement
  As a company, your mission statement is an imperative piece of information that you owe your employees. That’s right. You owe your employees a statement about your company’s purpose in order to give them an honest opportunity to embrace your unique vision. The ability to spell out what your company represents and where it wants to go is the first step in creating an atmosphere of clear, transparent communication in your workplace. While job duties differ, everyone you employ should be working toward the same goals. By following your company’s guiding principles, everyone should be using the same standards to fulfill your company’s mission. By communicating your values, tone, culture and direction, you give your employees the key to how to succeed.
• Your expectations- Statement of Policies
  The minimum expectation of your employees is the line you draw clearly in the sand with your handbook. This section should cover your policies and your code of conduct, which, at a minimum should include harassment and discrimination policies as well as the person employees should contact if an HR issue arises. Federal law prohibits harassment and discrimination based on age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, pregnancy and other protected classes. You must enforce these policies or risk facing a lawsuit you may lose. Employees should have complete understanding that harassment and discrimination are never tolerated. Are your managers tired of feeling stuck on repeat? If attendance, hygiene, dress code, safety, drug testing, internet policy or anything else are issues that management has to address on any kind of regular basis, you might consider putting a policy in the handbook to save everyone some breath.
• The At-Will Relationship
  By now, you have clearly laid out both who you are as a company and the minimum that you expect from your employees. In a perfect world, this is all you would need. In the real world, employees come and go, and it doesn’t always end well. The bulk of employee lawsuits stem from wrongful termination claims. While your company may be stocked from wall to wall with wonderful people, it only takes one disgruntled employee who feels that he or she has been wronged unfairly to file a suit. Even a lawsuit without merit can cost a company unnecessary dollars, hours, resources and stress. If your company is located in an at-will state (and most are), you need to spell out that your company can terminate any employee at any time for any reason. Otherwise, you need to lay out a clear termination policy that you can literally follow “by the (hand)book” when dismissing an employee.
• Oh, by the way- A Disclaimer for all of your disclaimers
  A Handbook is considered a living document. It can change as your company grows, however, you might not want to update your handbook every year. Fortunately, with a good disclaimer, you shouldn’t have to. Your mission statement, policies and procedures aren’t likely to change drastically or often. Even so, it’s impossible to cover every unforeseeable event in your workplace, nor should your handbook try to do so. You must have a statement that says your handbook is neither exhaustive nor comprehensive, that policies may change at any time and that the handbook does not serve as a contractual offer or promise of employment. This disclaimer gives management the versatility it needs to act as it sees fit when your company is faced with a range of issues.
• Acknowledgment- The “I understand” signature statement
  Having a handbook does you absolutely no good if you can’t prove your employees read and understood the contents. Be sure your employees sign and date the acknowledgment page, then file it in the employee’s personal file. Then congratulate yourself for both protecting your company and communicating so effectively with your employees, your company’s most valuable assets.
  
  
  If you have any questions, we're happy to help! Send us an e-mail to hello@handbooks.io