For this first option, the Contracts & Agreements Kit uses employment agreements (or independent contractor agreements) to get sign off on conduct policies instead of using an acknowledgment form, where the conduct policies become an extension of the employment contract.
This option for Conduct Policies sign off is recommended primarily because it extracts the contractual information from your Employee Manual/handbook and includes it in a new document called “Staff Policies Manual” which is referred to in the employment contract. Show me an example Staff Policy Manual table of contents.
How Employment Agreements and Company Manuals fit together Contractually
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The Staff Policies Manual excludes the proprietary information or orientation and internal procedures available in your handbook/manual and serves as an addendum that supplements the terms and conditions outlined in your employment or independent contractor agreement. Conduct Policies and the rest of the handbook is used for reference after hire.
- The Conduct Policies ensure that an incumbent is aware and signs off on your conduct rules before their first day of work, where the primary purpose is to be clear about expectations and protect your company and other staff. It eliminates "no one told me I was expected to..."
- The rest of the information in your employee handbook/manual is an internal document used to orient new employees and to provide operational and company information when they need it - after they're hired.
This Staff Policies Manual is supplemented with another document called “Terms & Definition Addendum” which defines the formal terms referenced in both your Staff Policies Manual and your Employee Manual.
Advantages of Option 1
- Does not require a separate Acknowledgement form for employees to sign. The clauses that deal with sign off are included in the Employment or Independent Contractor Agreement.
- The information in your Employee Manual does not form a contract. For example, if your Employee Manual includes information about a benefit such as training or employee discounts, the information in the Employee Manual is not a promise that you’ve contractually committed to unless you specifically include such benefits as a clause in your employment agreements.
- In most cases, your independent contractors should absolutely sign off on your conduct policies, but in most cases, they should not have access to your Employee Manual which is proprietary and typically meant for employees.
- It separates the contractual and often “antagonistic” language and content out of your Employee Manual.
- When you make an offer to a candidate, they will not have access to the proprietary and often sensitive information that’s included in your Employee Manual.
Example: Let's say you make an offer to a candidate and in order to get sign off on Conduct Policies, you make your employee handbook/manual available prior to commencement of their engagement. You're essentially disclosing sensitive documents that include confidential and proprietary company information that should not be seen by an incumbent prior to accepting an offer and prior to becoming part of your 'family'. At minimum, this orientation and proprietary information should only be disclosed once staff have signed off on your confidentiality agreement. Consider that if you send your employee handbook/manual to a candidate as part of their acceptance of a contract because you want them to sign off on your conduct policies, the incumbent may not accept the offer and your employee handbook is now in cyberspace and may become a competitive disadvantage.
