Creating Your Employee Policy Handbook
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Digital Library > Operations and Technology > Procedures and practices "Creating Your Employee Policy Handbook"
Employee handbooks should be more than just a pile of photocopies you thrust at a new hire. Handbooks provide a common framework for communicating your corporate culture. If used properly, they can protect you legally as well.
OVERVIEW [top]A company's employee policy handbook can make or break a court case. For instance, an employee handbook can justify the decision to fire an employee when that former worker airs his or her grievance before a judge. Yet, the dismissed employee may use statements from the handbook to prove that the company didn't follow proper procedure, with the result that the fired employee is now entitled to compensation. Which way would the decision go in your case? It depends on how you write and present the information in your handbook. In this Quick-Read you will find:- Considerations for formulating an employee handbook.
- Advantages of a well-constructed handbook.
- Practical tips for steering clear of problems down the road.
- Print an "at-will employment" statement in large point size at the front of the book. It should state that the handbook does not create a contract, express or implied, and that it does not alter the "at-will" relationship between employer and employee. The at-will statement protects your right to fire an employee.
- Require employees to sign a receipt indicating they received and will comply with the employee policy handbook. Repeat this step with each addition or correction page you issue in the future.
- Repeat the at-will clause in the performance standards section so lawyers of disgruntled employees can't claim their clients skipped that particular page.
- Make a list of questions commonly asked by employees, situations that repeatedly cause confusion, and personnel issues that recur at management meetings.
- Anticipate spending 20 to 40 hours on the initial draft. Consider whether dealing with present ambiguities wastes more time than that throughout the year.
- Explore commercial software templates for employee policy handbooks to determine if one can save you time. See for instance www.hrto ols.com, www.jian.com and www.paychex.com.
- Divide company information and present it in six categories:
- The way we work (legal statements).
- Pay and progress (money issues).
- Time away from work/benefits (perks).
- On the job (employee duties and performance expectations).
- Safety in the workplace (precautions, substance abuse).
- Receipt page (acknowledging receipt of the manual and the at-will statement).
- Revise or scratch any statements that could imply long-term commitments or promises with which you are uncomfortable.
- Highlight negative statements that smack of us-versus-them attitudes. Example: "Tardiness is prohibited," "We reserve the right to drug test," "Passing out unauthorized samples constitutes grounds for termination." Replace them with positive statements, such as "We expect employees to come to work on time" or "We expect our employees to be fit for duty, free from the adverse effects of drugs or alcohol."
- When in doubt, point out the rule without detailing consequences.
- If the handbook exceeds 30 pages, simplify by bulleting information or eliminating miscellaneous company information, such as its history. Employees tune out large blocks of copy.
- Have a lawyer review your handbook.
- Repeat your handbook's "at-will employment" statement in employment applications, job offer letters and other pre-employment paperwork as well as during formal discipline situations. This provides you with still more protection than the handbook on its own should you find yourself in court on wrongful termination charges.
- Publish the handbook on your company's Intranet.
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