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An employee handbook is a key resource your entire staff should receive when hired.
Starting a business can be overwhelming and exhausting. You have to build teams to help with marketing, product creation, communications, sales and more. You must implement employee training tactics and ensure everyone’s work and behavior align with your company vision. On top of that, entrepreneurs and small business owners can find themselves answering the same questions repeatedly.
To alleviate stress and ensure everyone’s on the same page, have an employee handbook in place when you start your company. This document will respond to your employees’ most typical operational questions, saving you time and keeping your team on the same page. We’ll explore why employee handbooks are necessary for any startup intent on building a successful team and share what your handbook should include.
An employee handbook is an extensive document that lists and details a company’s policies. While these policies comprise the bulk of an employee handbook, the document often includes the following information as well:
As a new business owner, you’ll likely need an employee handbook to ensure your team understands your company mission statement, your vision of an ideal workplace, and your goals for your company culture. When you give employees an in-depth employee handbook that describes business operations, you reduce the time you’ll spend training your team on skills not directly related to your projects.
Since it creates a team-based approach to all work procedures and concerns, an employee handbook can help you achieve a productive, professional, welcoming workplace. For instance, your manual might cover the following workspace protocols:
Employers are not legally required to have handbooks, but they may legally help protect your company by demonstrating its compliance with standard policies. Consequently, almost all HR experts recommend creating an employee handbook for your company.
An employee handbook can include many sections; some companies may include sections that others don’t. While no two employee handbooks are exactly alike, most should cover the following areas.
The bulk of your employee handbook should outline company policies as indicated below:
Include a clause clearly stating that the handbook is not a substitute for a formal employment contract. Tell your employees that receiving an employee handbook does not guarantee continued employment.
If applicable, include a clause stating that all your company’s employees are hired at will. The terms of at-will employment permit employers to terminate an employee for any reason, at any time, without advance notice. Some employment contracts and employee handbooks also remind employees of their right to leave their jobs for any reason, at any time, without advance notice.
Include a clause stating the current handbook’s date and edition, and to confirm that older editions are no longer valid or accurate. This way, as you revise your handbook based on employee feedback, your employees will know that older versions are invalid.
Stress that the policies in your employee handbook are subject to change at any time. A statement to this effect enables you to adjust the company’s policies as needed to address emergent situations and employee feedback. You should also clearly explain where and how employees will be notified of changes to the handbook and its policies.
Your company history isn’t as critical as some of the other clauses listed here, but educating employees on your company’s evolution never hurts. Plus, your company’s history can help provide context for a critical portion of the employee handbook: your company mission statement.
Near the beginning of your employee handbook, consider presenting your company mission statement so your employees know the goals they’ll work toward. Be careful not to conflate your company’s goals and values with your ideal working conditions and employee benefits; make it clear that those details can be found elsewhere in the handbook.
Creating standards for how you’ll onboard every new hire can massively streamline this process – as can handing your employees a document that explicitly states your onboarding process. When your employees have as much information about your onboarding process as your HR and hiring teams do, their first days will be easier for everyone. A well-thought-out onboarding process is crucial. Poor onboarding can lead to lower morale and less engagement.
Your employee conduct policies should firmly condemn sexual harassment and outline the steps your company will take when employees bring allegations to your HR team. It should also include a process for reporting inappropriate behavior so your employees know their safety and privacy will be respected every step of the way.
A section on employment law can educate employees on their rights and the conditions under which they can sue the company for sexual harassment or other infractions. This primer can help your employees feel safe in the workplace and offer you some protection from lawsuits. At its most basic level, it’s critical that your employees know they have legal resources and can take recourse if necessary.
Some employee handbooks include key company contacts’ email addresses and phone numbers. You can choose to list contact information for the business owner or all company executives. You may also include a complete employee directory. An extensive employee directory may be more useful in the handbook’s digital edition so employees can click on email addresses instead of manually typing them.
If you require your employees to sign nondisclosure and noncompete agreements, include these requirements and their terms in the employee handbook. Have new employees sign these agreements before starting their work.
A thorough guide to your employee benefits package is one of the most critical things to include in your employee handbook. While you’ll discuss specific employee benefits like medical leave and vacation time in your handbook’s attendance policies section, you should also include a section that discusses all benefits in more detail.
These are some employee benefits to discuss in your employee manual:
Your handbook’s employee benefits section should state the benefits your company offers, which employees qualify for them, and how your employees can work with you and your HR team to access and maintain these benefits.
You typically don’t need to enumerate many benefits your company does not offer. Still, you should always detail your health insurance and retirement plan offerings (or lack thereof) since these are the most sought-after benefits.
At the end of your employee handbook, leave space for employees to sign and acknowledge that they have a copy of it and understand its contents. You may also want to restate that all policies are subject to change and outline how employees can present suggestions, questions and concerns.
An effective employee handbook covers all necessary information clearly and in great detail, so employees can easily find answers to their questions. However, you should also take care to avoid these common missteps.
Employee handbooks can take a while to create, so some employers purchase an employee handbook template and fill in the blanks as needed. Others commission a consultant to create a brand-new handbook. Many experts discourage both of these approaches.
For starters, hiring a consultant to write your employee handbook can cost thousands of dollars. Furthermore, small businesses that adopt templates may wind up with policies and bylaws that only larger companies can feasibly implement. That’s why many experts suggest writing your own employee handbook.
Granted, there’s nothing wrong with using a template to guide your handbook’s structure and provisions. Just be sure not to copy the template’s text exactly – modify it to fit your company’s culture, structure, size and industry.
Distributing your handbook is not quite the final step. You should update your employee handbook at least annually, review it semiannually, and spend the time between your review and your rewrite jotting down notes about possible new policies or changes to old policies.
Record feedback you receive from employees regarding the current handbook. When it’s time to rewrite, transform your notes into a new handbook and send it around to employees to review, acknowledge and sign.
If one thing should be clear to you now, it’s that creating an employee handbook takes time and effort. You should also realize that employee handbook texts are references unique to your business, not inflexible documents to copy from other companies. With all these considerations in mind, view employee handbook templates and examples to get started.
An employee handbook is a living document that establishes your company’s values, outlines its practices, and reflects its current needs. Making your employee handbook as comprehensive, accessible,and clear as possible can reduce the time you spend answering questions and instill a sense of trust in the company’s business and operations.
Employee handbooks help everyone at the company stay on the same page so they can come together and work as a team toward the same goals.
Cailin Potami contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.