What's an Employee Handbook?
What is it?
An employee handbook, sometimes also known as an employee manual, or HR policy manual is a document that's made accessible to employees by an employer that serves as a rule book and reference guide for the workplace. It's essentially an operating manual to navigate the complex network of human and operational details that make up a place of work.
An employee handbook generally comes in 2 flavours:
1. Basic Employee Handbook
Includes the most important policies that are required by legislation or that protect the company from litigation.
Example policies include, Code of Conduct, Use of Technology Tools, Dating Co-workers, Safety Policies, Legislated Leaves, Human Rights Protection.
2. Comprehensive Employee Handbook
Includes everything an employee needs to know about the workplace. The document is comprehensive enough to be used as a complete orientation tool for anyone in your company.
When you think about an employee handbook, the image of formal and inflexible rules meant to dampen creativity often comes to mind. And yes, there's definitely some of that, but many of those antagonistic policies unfortunately, are usually put in place to protect employees and your company from the NOTMICS.
The real value and highest return of investment (ROI) of a comprehensive employee handbook is the information that brings people together, get aligned, and understand the values and culture and work towards a common goal. It means communicating information about your business and competitors, your brand and customer service philosophies, and the profile of person who will do well in your culture.
ROI is also realized when employees have operational information at their fingertips, preventing repeat questions such as:
- How do I turn the lights off when I leave at night?
- How do I submit my expenses?
- How do I record my absences?
- How do I book a meeting room?
- Where do I find an org chart?
In addition to the policies included in a Basic Employee Handbook, other topics could include: Culture, Celebrations, About your Competitors, Definition of Business Success, Goals for the Upcoming year, Your Brand, How to Run a Meeting, Information about your Facility, Operational Details, Visitors, Office Map, Staff Directory, How to Report Absences, Lunch and Learns, IT services, Lunchroom Rules, Where to find Parking, and links to many other resources.
Considerations
Here are some things to consider when creating an employee handbook:
Intent
Articulate why you have an employee handbook.
Tone & Language
Your employee handbook language and tone can say a lot about who you are as a company. You've likely noticed that many employee manuals read alike. That's because company's often start with their cousin's company's handbook and don't take the time to customize them to reflect who they are. It's acceptable for standard handbook policies to be the same, since they serve a generic purpose or are legislated and apply to any type of company and may be best not to word smith.
However, it's worth the effort to 'make it yours' when it comes to sections that should reflect your company's personality and culture, such as:
- Welcome Statement
- Topics describing your business, competitors, brands
- Celebrating Success
- Values & Culture
The Legal Stuff
Unfortunately, one of the main reasons for our customers seeking out an employee handbook is that something has occurred in the workplace that resulted in the CEO to say "ENOUGH!" The 'something' is usually an employee situation that has resulted in a lot of drama, lost productivity, legal costs, and a close call with litigation. For example, an employee uploaded graphic photos to the company server, and claimed they didn't know they couldn't. (uh huh... we call them a NOTMIC - The Difficult Employee)
So off Larry the Accountant goes to find a way to create an employee handbook because it just makes everyone feel better.
The truth is that a solid well thought out employee handbook helps to prevent drama and legal hassles and it doesn't take as much effort as you think. You may want to consider the best one out there, ConnectsUs Employee Handbook Kit.
Maintenance
Who is going to maintain your employee handbook? It should be reviewed at least annually.
Main Components of your Employee Handbook
We always recommend creating an employee handbook that will serve as a full-meal-deal orientation document for your staff. In that case, your employee handbook should include the following 5 sections.
- Welcome
- Staff Policies
- Human Resources
- About the Company
- Our Practices
Also view example sections, sub-sections, topics and policies for a Sample Ontario Employee Handbook
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