As an employer, you will always strive to foster a productive, safe, and overall positive work environment for your employees. All these factors can contribute to higher employee morale, employee retention, and success for your business. An employee handbook will help you achieve these goals. A handbook will lay out expectations of employee conduct and behavior and share employee benefits, workplace rules, and the company’s mission, vision, and values.
Using a template, like NFIB’s Model Employee Handbook, can make it easy to write a handbook that is customized for your business.
Why do I need an employee handbook?
Creating an employee handbook can ensure that that your policies, culture, workplace rules and benefits are clearly outlined and accessible to all employees. This will help promote consistent behavior in the workplace.
There are dozens of topics you can cover in your handbook, but below are a few of the major subjects that you should consider including in your handbook.
- Legal Policies
Drafting a handbook can ensure you follow basic labor laws such as minimum wage, overtime pay, meal breaks, and more. It can reinforce anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, which, if they experience these issues, make your employees more comfortable about bringing them to the employer’s attention. Legal compliance in your handbook can also include subjects such as workplace safety, privacy and confidentiality obligations, and Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies.
- Employee Benefits
Discussing benefits, holidays, and leave policies is beneficial to ensure your employees are clear on your policies concerning their rights.
- Company Culture
Your employee handbook is a great place to state your company mission and share the history of your company. You can also introduce employees to senior employees, the president, and officers.
Where do I start?
Drafting your employee handbook can seem like a daunting task, but NFIB has created a Model Employee Handbook to serve as a template and guide for you to get started.
NFIB’s Model Employee Handbook covers the following topics:
- Workplace Commitments
- Company Policies and Procedures
- Employment Classification
- Attendance Policies
- Leave Policies
- Work Performance
- Discipline Policy
- Employee Health and Safety
- Employee Benefits
- Termination Policies
- Acknowledgements of Receipt
Each of these sections contains extensive language that you can apply to your own employee handbook depending on what is relevant for your business.
NFIB’s Legal Center recently hosted a webinar Must Have Employee Policies for Small Businesses – Hiring, Firing, and Staying Compliant on March 6th, which can be viewed here.
If you have any questions concerning employee policies, drafting an employee handbook, or other related issues, you can reach out to [email protected].
