Chapter1
Handbook Introduction

A handbook’s introductory statements will be the first policies employees read, and they will set the tone for everything else to come. For this reason, they should be friendly and nonthreatening, easing employees into the drier—and sometimes less pleasant—­information that will follow. Envision the handbook as an engaging tour guide, personally leading employees through the company. Employees will be more receptive to—and pay more attention to—a handbook that they perceive as warm and friendly than a handbook that feels impersonal and cold.

Start by introducing employees to the company, and its history, products, and goals. You’d be surprised how many long-term ­employees—let alone employees who have just been hired—don’t know this basic information. The handbook can be an effective way of indoctrinating employees into a company’s culture and values. This knowledge can inform everything employees do at the company, from dealing with customers and vendors to setting standards for their own work.

Depending on the type of company, some employers might want to make the policies in this chapter more formal, and some might want to make them more casual. Regardless of the level of formality you choose, however, try to make the tone as pleasant and friendly as possible.

1:1  Welcoming Statement

Though it’s not a legal requirement, we recommend you begin the handbook by welcoming employees to the company. After all, the vast majority of employees will read the handbook from cover to cover only at the beginning of their employment. Thereafter, they will look at it only in bits and pieces, finding the information they need and nothing more.

A hearty welcome can quickly and effectively establish the friendly tone that you want to convey. An effective welcoming state­ment is positive and upbeat, and it begins the process of selling the company to your employees.

Additional Clause to Insert Company-Specific Information

This welcome will be even more effective if you add some concrete information about the company. Although some of this information will overlap with information you include in your introduction and history sections (see Policies 1.2 and 1.3, below), it doesn’t hurt to give employees a preview here. Consider mentioning:

How long your company has been in existence. For ­example: “We’re an energetic and creative bunch, dedicated to high standards of excellence since 1902 when the Martinez family first opened this company’s doors at 311 Main Street.”

The services or products that your company provides. For example: “Our company has dedicated itself to providing ­superior printing services since 1902.”

A description of your company’s culture. For example: “As a family-owned company, we run a casual operation where people feel free to decorate their workspaces and wear clothes that reflect their personality. Don’t let the informality fool you, however. We demand excellence from ourselves and our ­employees, and we consider ourselves to be the premier printing company in the Tri-State Area.”

If you do add company-specific information to this welcome statement, keep it brief. Your employees will be getting more ­detailed information from the policies that follow.

Don’t make big promises in a handbook. Be careful not to say anything that could create an implied contract with your employees promising to terminate them only for cause. (See ­Chapter 2 for more about implied contracts and termination for cause.) Avoid statements that promise employees a long future at the company or that describe the company as a “family.”

1:2  Introduction to the Company

The beginning pages of a handbook are a great place to briefly introduce employees to a company’s background, history, and culture. (You will delve into your company’s history in more detail later. See Policy 1:4, below.) In the Introduction, speak directly to employees and present the company as you want them to see it.

During employees’ day-to-day work at your company, information about your company’s values and goals will trickle down to them from supervisors, managers, coworkers, and customers. Unfortunately, this means that sometimes employees will hear things about your company that aren’t true or that are distorted by the prejudices and personalities of the people around them. If these are an employee’s first impressions of your company, they will be hard to undo. The Introduction is your opportunity to get in the first word about your company and to make a good first impression.

There is no standard policy language that we can provide to convey your company’s unique personality; that’s up to you. Here is an ­example of what an Introduction might look like.

SAMPLE POLICY LANGUAGE

Juanita Jones founded this ­company in 1978 on a very basic principle: Customers will pay for ­exceptional service and knowledge. Using that principle as her beacon, she took a small independent bookstore and created a chain of 300 stores serving customers throughout the western United States.

Here at J&J Books, we continue to believe that a knowledgeable and courteous staff can sell more books than discount prices can. For this reason, we encourage our employees to read the publishing and literary magazines that you will find in the break room, to use your employee discount to buy and read as many books as possible, and to take advantage of our tuition reimbursement program to take literature and writing classes at local colleges. When our customers come to you with questions, we want you to be able to answer them—with a smile.

We know that only happy and relaxed employees can give the quality and good-natured service that our customers demand. So take all of the breaks you are scheduled for, alert your ­manager to any problems in your work area, and communicate any ideas you might have for making this a better place to work.

At J&J Books, we want our employees to put the customer first. That’s why we, in management, put our employees first. We know that we are only as good as you are.

Drafting Your Own Policy

All sorts of information can go into your Introduction, from a heart-felt description of your company’s values to an inventory of the products you create and sell. When you write this policy, imagine sitting across from a single employee. What do you want this person to know about your company? What do you think the essence of your company is? What sort of attitude do you want this employee to have toward customers and clients? What information about your company would be useful to this employee in doing the job?

Consider including the following information in this policy:

The values that are most important to your company’s success, such as customer service, product quality, or high-speed productivity. Be as concrete as possible. Do you always do what the customer wants, no matter how much time and ­effort it takes? Do you try to fill all orders within one day? Do you always redo orders, no questions asked, if a customer complains?

An explanation of why these values are important to your company’s ­success.

Any goals your company has (for example, doubling sales in the next decade or lowering operating costs).

A description of the values and goals that each ­employee should have. For example, it may be more important to your company for employees to develop friendly relationships with customers than to pressure customers into making ­purchases they don’t really need.

A description of your company culture.

A description of the products your company produces or the services it provides.

An organizational chart for your company.

1:3  Mission Statement

Most modern businesses and organizations have mission statements as part of their overall business or strategic plan. If you have a mission statement, share it with your employees in your handbook. It is yet another way to educate your employees about your company. It helps them understand why they are there and how they should act. It also helps them see the big picture of what your organization is and what it is trying to accomplish in the world.

If you do not have a mission statement, see the guidelines for drafting one, below.

SAMPLE POLICY LANGUAGE

The mission of The Daily News is to enhance and protect our community through journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

Drafting Your Own Policy

When writing your mission statement, try to think of the essence of why your organization exists. If you run a business, you certainly want to make money, but there is always more to a business’s mission than the mere desire for profit. Ask yourself: Why do I run this business? Why is it in this place? Why is this business important? This should get you in the mindset of articulating your company’s mission.

Like the sample above, the mission statement should be short and to the point. Most are no longer than one sentence. Information about your company history and culture can go into other policies. The mission statement should be short enough that employees can memorize it, yet long enough to provide information about:

what you do

whom you do it for

how you do it, and

why do you do it.

1:4  History of the Company

The more pride your employees take in your company as a whole, the more pride they will take in their own performance. Telling the history of your company is one way to ­instill this pride. It can make employees feel like they are part of something special.

In addition, knowing this history can make employees more ­effective in their jobs. Anecdotes about your company’s noble ­beginnings can help your employees sell your company to ­customers and clients. Funny stories from your company’s past can make the company seem more human and friendly.

Although you may have previewed this information in the Welcoming Statement and Introduction to the Company (see Policies 1:1 and 1:2, above), now is the time to go into more detail.

Of course, each company has its own history, and you’ll have to decide how best to convey those facts. Here is an ­example of what this kind of policy might look like.

SAMPLE POLICY LANGUAGE

In 1855, Dante DeMarco opened this newspaper’s doors at 111 Main Street—right between City Hall and the county courthouse. It was a fitting geographic location for Dante, who ­always kept both eyes peeled for scandal and corruption among the city’s power elite. While he ran this newspaper, he lived and breathed the journalist’s creed: “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” He often said his proudest moment was the day Mayor Lou Mixon was forced to resign because of the great Black and Tan Scandal of 1925, a scandal uncovered and publicized by “DeMarco’s Moles,” as the reporters were then called. “I would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for that meddling paper,” Mixon was heard to say on his way up the jailhouse steps.

Here at the Daily Conscience and News, we still believe in the ideals that have won this newspaper three Pulitzer Prizes (the first for the Black and Tan Scandal). As Dante said, we must be the conscience of the city. We want reporters with suspicious and inquisitive minds and editors who won’t breathe easy until a story is just right. We are committed to hiring the highest-quality staff. We will provide whatever resources our employees need to keep their work at the highest level. We will never bow to pressure from advertisers or civic leaders. In short, we will ­continue to be the daily conscience of Cedar Falls.

Drafting Your Own Policy

Try to entertain your employees; tell them a good story. Get them hooked on your company’s past and becoming part of its future. Be as specific as possible. Use concrete details like names, dates, and amounts. If you have pictures from the early days, include them.

In writing your history, don’t forget the values and goals that you laid out in the Introduction to the Company section (see Policy 1:2, above). If you can, use the history to illustrate those values and show where they came from.

1:5  Handbook Purpose

Every company should include a purpose statement in its ­employee handbook. From the beginning, you must make clear to ­employees that they are expected to read the whole handbook and to incorporate the information they read into their work. After all, what’s the use of a handbook if employees don’t read it?

There is also a legal reason to include this policy. As we explained in the Introduction to this book, one of the biggest risks of using an employee handbook is that a judge or jury might view it as a contract and hold the company to what it says. One way to minimize this risk is to plainly state that the handbook is not a contract and to emphasize that policies can change at any time, for any reason, and without warning.

How to Complete This Policy

Of course, no handbook can anticipate all of the questions and concerns that your employees might have. For this reason, you must designate people at your company to whom your employees can go for more information. If you have a very small company, there might be only one member of management: you. In larger ­companies, there might be several levels of management to choose from, or you may want to direct employees to the human resources department, if your company has one. (Policy 1:7 introduces the human resources department.) Adjust this policy to reflect the situation at your company. If possible, name two people to whom employees can turn (for ­example, a supervisor and a human resources director). That way, employees have a choice: If they are uncomfortable with one of their options, they can pick the other. Of course, if you have a small company, there may only be one appropriate person. That’s fine, too.

1:6  Bulletin Board

Many employers use a company bulletin board to communicate with their employees about various events, laws, and rules, and to inform employees about changes to information in the handbook. Typical bulletin board postings include legally required notices (for example, about equal employment opportunity laws, wage and hour laws, and the like), flyers about special company events, and an organizational chart.

If you have a company bulletin board, include a policy in the ­introductory section of your handbook that alerts employees to the board’s existence, instructs employees to read the board periodically, and identifies who is allowed to put things on the board.

Alternate Modifications to Specify Who Can Post

To Prohibit Employees From Posting

Some companies do not want employees posting information on official bulletin boards. If that is the case at your company, add the following paragraph to your policy.

Alternate Modification A

To Allow Employees to Post

Some companies like to allow their employees to post information on company bulletin boards. If you would like to do so, add the ­following paragraph to your policy.

Alternate Modification B

1:7  Human Resources Department

If your company has a human resources department, that is a wonderful thing. A human resources department can help ensure that your company’s most important assets—its human resources—are happy and productive. The human resources department does such things as conduct trainings, field questions about benefits, and handle complaints of illegal discrimination. It also plans staff retreats and recognizes exceptional service. But your employees can’t use the human resources department if they don’t know about it. Your handbook is a great way to introduce the department to your employees.