Every company, no matter how big or small, needs to provide workers with an employee handbook. Create Your Own Employee Handbook gives you all the information and policies managers, HR professionals and business owners need to create their own reader-friendly guide, no matter what state you live in. Each chapter covers a different topic, including:
You'll get the lowdown on the legal and practical considerations that apply to each topic in your state, plus sample policies that you can use as-is, or tailor to meet your needs. The CD-ROM lets you cut-and-paste the language you need to complete your own handbook instantly.
The 4th edition is completely updated to include the latest developments in federal and state law, and covers emerging workplace issues such as lactation breaks, instant messaging, and new regulations for dealing with victims of domestic violence.
If you're like most managers, you (or people who work for you) probably devote a good part of every day to employee relations. If you're in human resources or own a business, you may find yourself making decisions or fielding questions about everything from benefits to vacation time to disciplinary problems. Sometimes, you may know the answer right away ("You get ten vacation days"); other times, you may have to think a bit or come up with something new ("What is our policy on paternity leave?").
In such situations, a good employee handbook is as essential as any real live manager. It knows all the answers -- and it communicates them clearly to employees. Indeed, an employee handbook can do a lot for your company, including:
This introduction provides an overview of these benefits and explains how this book can help you create an effective handbook.
Simply defined, an employee handbook is a written document describing the benefits and responsibilities of the employment relationship. In reality, however, the handbook's role is much more complex and powerful. While it sits quietly on the shelf, the employee handbook can actually help define and manage your company's relationship with its employees.
An employee handbook is an indispensable workplace tool, because it can help your company communicate with employees, manage its workers (and managers), streamline its organization, and protect itself from lawsuits.
A handbook tells employees what the company expects from them and what they can expect from the company. "What time do I have to be at work?"; "Does my employer provide health insurance?"; "How do I complain about my supervisor's sexual advances?" A well-drafted handbook will answer all of these questions and many more.
In addition to relaying basic information about benefits, hours, and pay, an employee handbook imparts the company's culture, values, and history. When was the company founded? Why is it successful? What attitude should employees take towards their jobs and customers? This information can help motivate employees to work more effectively and enthusiastically on behalf of the company.
Employees are not mind readers. Although you may know what the company's practices and policies are, without a handbook, other employees, managers, and supervisors have no place to turn for this information. This creates an environment ripe for trouble, both legal and practical. Employee morale will drop if employees are treated inconsistently, possibly resulting in a discrimination lawsuit if an employee thinks this different treatment is based on race, gender, or some other protected characteristic.
Handbooks promote positive employee relations by ensuring that all employees are treated consistently and fairly. They prevent misunderstandings, confusion, and complaints by giving everyone the same resource for learning company personnel practices. If there is ever any doubt or dispute about a particular policy, you can simply open the book and take a look. You don't need to have long, agonizing discussions or try to reinvent the wheel.
The process of creating a handbook will force your company's management to carefully consider every aspect of its relationship with employees. Rather than doing things just because that's the way they've always been done, you can reflect on how employees have been treated and consider whether any changes are in order. For each policy, your company's decision makers should ask themselves: Do we really want to continue doing things this way? If so, why?
Creating an employee handbook necessarily requires communication with, and feedback from, employees, supervisors, and managers about the company's current personnel practices. This will help determine what works and what doesn't, what should change and what should stay the same, and what new policies or practices the company might want to adopt.
Just having a handbook can help your company comply with the law and reduce its risk of lawsuits. Consider the following:
Perhaps the most important reason to have an employee handbook is to protect the company's legal right to terminate employees at will. In theory, employers already have this right. Unless the company has entered into a contract with an employee promising something else, its relationship with that employee is automatically "at will" -- meaning the employer can terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason that is not illegal, and the employee can do the same.
However, just because an employee does not have a written contract does not necessarily guarantee that the employee is working at will. A company can inadvertently destroy its right to terminate at will by creating an implied contract with an employee, promising not to fire the employee without a legitimate business reason. Some employers with badly written handbooks have gotten burned over this issue. Courts have found that certain statements in their handbooks -- including that employees will only be fired for certain reasons, that employees won't be fired if they are doing a good job, or that employees are considered "permanent" once they complete a probationary period, created implied contracts that limited the employers' right to fire at will. (For more on at-will employment and implied contracts, see Chapter 2.)
In this book, we help you avoid this trap by providing standard policies that steer clear of any promises of continued employment, as well as disclaimers that specifically state that employment relationships at your company are at will.
An employee handbook can do a lot, but it can't do everything, nor should it. As we explain more fully in this section, a handbook is just one part of a company's relationship with its employees. It lays the groundwork for success in that relationship, but it's up to the company's managers to take it from there.
Although a handbook is an important communication tool, it cannot take the place of one-on-one personal interaction between management and employees. An employee handbook can help foster trust, loyalty, and positive employee relations, but it can't do the job on its own. Employees need a human face behind the policies. They need to see, hear, and feel that the company's management is interested in them and the job they are doing.
No matter how many policies you write, they won't do your company any good unless managers follow them. In fact, they might actually do some harm.
From a practical standpoint, personnel practices that are inconsistent with written policies can damage employee relations. Employees who read one thing but experience another won't trust -- or feel loyal to -- their employer.
From a legal standpoint, a company is courting trouble if it doesn't deliver what it promises in the handbook. Even though the handbook will include disclaimers explaining that the handbook is not a contract (see Chapter 1 for these disclaimers), a judge or jury might think differently and try to hold the company to its words -- or at least make it pay for not following them. For these reasons, the handbook should include only those policies that your company is prepared to follow.
Employee handbooks are written in general terms, for use by employees. A policy or procedures manual, on the other hand, is a detailed guide that sets out very specifically how supervisors and managers are to do their jobs. Usually, employees are not allowed access to policy or procedures manuals.
You may wonder why you can't just have one book for both audiences. There are a number of reasons, including the following:
This book is for business owners, managers, supervisors, and human resource professionals in any size company, from a small outfit with only a handful of employees to a large corporation. It is also appropriate for virtually every industry, from manufacturing to sales to service provision.
There are two types of workplaces for which this book won't work: public workplaces (that is, workplaces with federal, state, or local government employees) and unionized workplaces.
[Icons Used in This Book] omitted for online sample chapter.
Here are summaries of important legal or procedural changes that affect the latest edition of this product.
Whats New in the 4th Edition of Create Your Own Employee HandbookOverview of What''s New
The 4th edition covers all the latest legal developments, including lactation breaks for breastfeeding mothers, new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rules, domestic violence, and much more. It also includes more than a dozen completely updated 50-state charts.
Who Needs the New Edition?
You Need the New Edition If:Everyone who will use the book to create an employee handbook needs the latest edition.
Chapters Most Affected
Chapter 6: Hours
Chapter 8: Employee Benefits
Chapter 10: Leave and Time Off
Chapter 13: Health and Safety
Chapter 15: Computers, Email, and the Internet
Chapter 21: Ending Employment
Forms That Have Changed
New Policies
Policy 6:4 - Lactation Breaks
Policy 8:5 - Long Term Disability Insurance
Policy 8:9 - Education Reimbursement
Policy 13:6 - Domestic Violence
Policy 21:1 - Resignation
Revised Policies
Policy 1:6 - Human Resources Department
Policy 3:2 - Recruitment
Policy 3:3 - Internal Application Process
Policy 3:5 - Nepotism
Policy 4:3 - Work Eligibility
Policy 6:3 - Meal and Rest Breaks
Policy 8:1 - Employee Benefits: Introductory Statement
Policy 9:2 - Company Cars
Policy 10:1 - Vacation
Policy 10:5 - Family and Medical Leave
Policy 10:8 - Military Leave
Policy 12:4 - Pranks and Practical Jokes
Policy 15:1 - Email
Policy 15:2 - Using the Internet
Policy 15:4 - Personal Blogs and Posts
Policy 17:5 - Rehabilitation and Your EAP
Policy 19:2 - Harassment
Policy 20:1 - Complaint Procedures
Policy 21:2 - Final Paychecks
Policy 21:3 - Severance Pay
Policy 21:4 - Continuing Your Health Insurance Coverage
Policy 21:5 - Exit Interviews