An employee handbook is one of the most crucial materials to communicate your values, mission, and vision to your employees. It helps build a constructive workplace culture as well as boost employee loyalty. However, writing them isn’t as easy as you might think.
This article shows you how to structure your employee handbook. It also offers you an idea of what to include to help employees understand the company’s expectations.
Welcome
Whether it’s from a CEO or the founder, a welcome letter is the equivalent of a handshake or a welcome greeting. It has the potential of giving an excellent first impression on new hires. It can also serve as a warm encouragement to existing employees.
Your Commitment to Your Employees
An employee handbook is the most suitable place to announce a company’s commitment to its employees. This is where you can set the roadmap to the legal and ethical treatment of a company’s personnel. The handbook serves as a guide on how you address and apply the policies and procedures of the business. In addition, this is where the employees can learn about what they can expect from the employer.
Use language that’s positive, enthusiastic, and friendly. This is to show how committed you are to giving them the best possible workplace culture there is. And according to Forbes, happy employees make happy customers.
Company Policies
Your employee handbook should include a section that provides a detailed summary of all the company’s procedures and policies. This can be the part that tackles legal agreements and notices, which, for some, can be a daunting topic. Make sure that when writing the employee handbook, avoid using legal jargon as much as possible. This will make it easier to digest and prevent intimidation.
Think of your handbook as a means to communicate with your employees. Ensure that you write in a tone of voice that’s positive and straightforward. Use readable language to make it easy for employees to understand and absorb.
These are a few policies that you can include in the handbook:
- Dress code
- Workplace health and safety
- Disciplinary actions
- Employee code of conduct
- Equal opportunity
- Code of ethics
- Anti-discrimination
- Anti-harassment
- Grievance handling
Putting your company policies in writing tells them what your expectations are from them. This can also serve as soft warnings when you clearly outline the consequences if employees fail to abide by the rules.
The inclusion of company policies in the employee handbook will help with everyone’s compliance with the law. It helps keep management accountable and defend both sides against legal claims. This is also helpful in assisting with the fair treatment of the employees.
Attendance and Leave Policies
According to Business News Daily, 29% of employees show up late to work at least once a month. Because of this, it’s imperative that you include your policies on attendance and leaves in your employee handbook. Including these policies sets clear and coherent expectations for your employees.
This is a topic that draws in many misunderstandings. Be specific with concerns such as stating the difference between “absent” and “no-show” and other similar scenarios. These policies tend to be hard to remember, and your handbook will serve as a quick go-to for your employees.
Performance
The performance section is another category that your employees will most likely go to frequently. This can be an extensive topic as you have the option to include not only performance reviews but compensation matters as well. You can break down the section into the following:
- Job classification details
- Performance reviews
- Payroll schedule
- Salary and bonuses
- Promotions
- Transfers
- Termination
You can add to the list depending on what policies your company has regarding performance, values, and behavior.
Discipline Policies
To promote efficient and peaceful operations of your workplace, let your employees know all about your discipline policies. Doing this will also protect the rights of the employees. Knowing what are considered violations and how the company deals with them will help with the legalities. When you discuss your company’s disciplinary actions, ignorance of them will no longer be an excuse for violation.
Health and Safety Benefits
Letting your employees know about your health and safety benefits lessens the risks of work-related illnesses and injuries. This, in turn, will reduce absenteeism as well as provide a more productive work environment.
Addressing health and safety helps employers save money by retaining their personnel. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a total of 5,250 workers died from a work-related injury in 2018. To avoid this, make your health and safety policies and benefits clear to all your employees.
Your company will then save on absences and reduce the need for the recruitment of new staff. A healthy workplace can also be good in boosting company morale and overall productivity.
Termination Policy
Making your termination policies known to your employees lets them know that disciplinary procedures are in place. This will help combat misconduct by letting them know what constitutes grounds for disciplinary action. This will also help them understand what the disciplinary processes are in your company.
This is also where you can further explain the steps they need to take when announcing their resignation. You can add this as a separate section and define the time frame involved in the process.
The termination policy category can be more challenging to write than the others. This is a delicate subject matter, and you need to carefully word the topic as you wouldn’t want to instill fear. Remember, your employee handbook is a communication tool. It needs to get your message across without alienating your employees.
Acknowledgment of Receipt
Just as crucial in your employee handbook is the employee’s acknowledgment of receipt. Ensure that they understand everything in it, and they sign it as an acknowledgment of that understanding. You may want to create two copies, one for the employee and one for their employment file. At this point, you can also decide if you will accept electronic signatures if you want to make the handbook available online.
