So anytime you decide to create an employee handbook, run it by your legal team. Better yet, if you have the budget, ask your legal team to create the handbook for you covering essentials such as benefit policies, leave policies, bonuses, performance merits, salary raises, termination, etc. This is where you will run all the conditions in the handbook by the legal counselor and ensure that your conditions do not violate employee rights law and that they are up-to-date with labor laws.
A mistake in your policy could lead to a lawsuit and could affect your business on the whole. What are the core areas you are looking to cover in the handbook? What is your prioritization of them? Categorize the information you want to state in your handbook and divided the information into priority categories likewise. Towards the later half, you can discuss leave policies, benefits, bonus percentages, etc.
Finally, you can end the book with a company quote or any other motivational message you deem suitable. While employee handbooks may differ from company to company, there are core policies such as confidential contracts, anti-discrimination, sexual harassment, etc.
The Small Business Association has provided a list of pointers given below that should be part of your handbook. Missing out on any of these core topics could land you in a tough spot especially when you will have to deal with complicated situations that can arise from the lack of defined rules.
For example, women in your organization may face sexual harassment if there are no clear rules mentioned to tackle the problem. Make sure the information stated throughout the employee handbook is clear and does not have redundancy.
To achieve this, keep your written words precise and language simple, as being needlessly wordy could lead to confusion and unclear objectives.
The best instructions are clear and directive instead of vague and wordy and if you require employees to read up on extra legal proceedings, then attach a reference or a link if the handbook is a pdf. Also, encourage your employees to read the fine print. Filling it with legal and corporate jargon will not be a guarantee to settle any dispute with your employees because frankly anyone would be intimidated by a technical or legal document.
As your business grows, your organization may have changes in policies and work processes which need to be mentioned in the handbook.
Therefore, make it an official practice to review your handbook annually and ensure that the right information is incorporated, after a legal review.
Most organizations fail to update their handbook and before they know it, they are caught in an unpleasant situation that could have easily been prevented had policies been updated. Now you may love discipline and may want your employees to follow strict rules in terms of dress codes or corporate mannerisms, but turning your handbook into a school rulebook is definitely not a good idea. Some things are not meant to be written in words, rather observed, experienced or talked about.
The last thing you want is your newly hired talent to feel intimidated and mistrustful of your organization. If your handbook is too lengthy, too directive and too authoritative, then you are already setting yourself up to be seen as a threatening boss or an unforgiving company.
Keep it easy and use the handbook to give basic information about your expectations rather than using it as a disciplinary guide. To make sure your disciplinary actions are fair, ask yourself the following questions before taking action against an employee: Does the punishment fit the crime? Or is the employee being singled out? Is the discipline consistent? How have you treated employees who have shown similar conduct in the past? Has the discipline been administered after a proper investigation of the facts?
Be a neutral fact-finder until you gather all the facts. Is the discipline taken too quickly? Is the discipline confidential? Discuss disciplinary actions with other managers and staff on a need-to-know basis only.
When should you write an employee up? Excessive tardiness, unexcused absences. Incompetent job performance. Cite attempts you make to help the employee improve. A couple of Utah employers recently saw this play out with different results. In Hoko v. Huish Detergents, Inc. The handbook, however, disclaimed any intent to create an employment contract and the employee signed an acknowledgement of receipt of the handbook indicating he understood his at-will status.
Further, there was no evidence his employer had enforced the internet policy differently with other employees holding similar positions. In Cabaness v. Thomas , a Supreme Court of Utah case, things went down much differently.
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