NFIB

Essentials of Employee Handbooks
07/ 17/ 2003

by Jeffrey Moses

Does your company need an employee handbook? If you have more than five or six employees, the answer is probably yes. As your business grows, an employee handbook can become increasingly useful, serving as a reference tool for anything about the business, from the mission statement to the dress code. Following are the main parts to include in your employee handbook:

Company Goals and Mission Statement

Oftentimes employees are left out of a company's big picture, making it harder for them to share in a company-wide morale. By providing information like the company's mission and goals, employees can be reminded each time they open the handbook of how their roles fit into those goals.

General Policies and Procedures

This section of the handbook should include information about everything from pay periods and holidays to the dress code and telephone use. When policies and procedures are written down, it leaves less room for confusion, which can be helpful as early as an employee's first day on the job. Instead of asking questions about the dress code and the hours of operation, employees can focus on learning about the job itself. The first week or first month can be a stressful time for new employees, characterized by a low understanding of company norms. An employee handbook that outlines all general information, however, can help create a smoother transition for new employees into the workplace.

Leave Policies

For most small businesses, the most common types of leave are: sick leave, maternity leave, jury duty, military leave, funeral leave and personal leave. This section of the handbook should provide employees with information about the company's leave policies and allowances on each type of absence.

Employee Benefits

This section of the handbook should include information about benefits available to employees, such as health, disability and life insurance, and work-life benefits such as gym memberships and discounts for wellness-related activities, for example.

Disciplinary Policies

It is important to have accessible written documentation of the company's tolerance and action policies of various employee behaviors. This includes everything from how to report and solve employee conflicts to the consequences of betraying the company. When designing this part of the handbook, make sure that you have either covered all possible employee infractions, or have been vague enough with the language to let employees know that incidents will be dealt with as they happen in the manner you see fit.

Because employees could misinterpret parts of the handbook and some courts have viewed employee handbooks as legally binding contracts, employment attorneys advise employers to rid the handbook of declarations that the company will achieve specific financial goals or promises to provide jobs for employees as long as they follow all company rules and regulations. Before distributing the handbook to employees, have your lawyer review it for statements that could be misconstrued.

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