What makes a good handbook

Explain that the employee handbook is not an employment contract, management retains the right to interpret policies, and the company reserves the right to revise the handbook at any time. Ask a few people within your company to provide feedback on your draft handbook and acknowledgment form and then consider having legal counsel review your handbook to help ensure compliance with all applicable laws. As you're building your employee handbook, develop plans for training supervisors on how to interpret and apply the policies, introducing and distributing the handbook to employees, and reviewing and updating the handbook as laws or company practices change.

Learn about creating a custom employee handbook for your business. More from this category. Addi P. Stay in the know on the latest workforce trends and insights. Some examples include: A prominent at-will statement in the beginning of your employee handbook except in Montana, where at-will employment is not recognized.

This statement reiterates that, absent certain exceptions, either you or the employee can terminate the employment relationship at any time and for any reason. Employment classifications, meal and rest periods, timekeeping and pay, employee conduct, attendance, and punctuality.

Anti-harassment, nondiscrimination , leave of absence, and workplace safety and health. Conclusion: As you're building your employee handbook, develop plans for training supervisors on how to interpret and apply the policies, introducing and distributing the handbook to employees, and reviewing and updating the handbook as laws or company practices change.

Ask Addi P. By writing down and referencing real, specific examples, employees can more easily prepare for different situations before they happen.

The Disqus Culture Book is another example of a handbook that is full of personality. Far from boring or typical, this book covers everything from life at Disqus to their favorite phrases and everything in between.

The writing itself is conversational, making it super easy to read and relate to. In other words, it sounds like a real human talking — not a robot. The Disqus onboarding process is interesting: They have their very own employee handbook with rules and regulations, but they also have a culture book.

So, they have two official guides for new hires to stay organized and on the same page:. The book also includes a timeline and history with company milestones, to show employees when the company was started and how it grew over time.

For example, HubSpot published their Culture Code slide presentation on SlideShare as a way of demonstrating their mission and revealing who they are. Not only is this a creative way to talk about your company values, but it also happens to be perfectly in line with their inbound marketing product.

This is one of the better-designed handbooks out of the list, created by PeopleHR. These employee handbook examples are the epitome of simple yet effective. All of these employee handbook samples shared above have found ways to make themselves engaging.

A great employee handbook should communicate your core values, house rules, procedures, and company culture as directly as possible. It should be a brilliant onboarding tool for new hires and a great reference tool for existing employees who need reminders on company policies. If you want your handbook to be memorable, it should be. Find ways to make it memorable. From company mission statement and company history to company values, vacation policy, sick leave and employee benefits, a good HR company handbook should have it all.

If you want to be able to answer these questions easily for your new hires, try AirMason Handbook Builder. Get beautifully designed handbook templates, create all the content in a jiffy by answering a few questions and easily share it with your employees using a link or as a PDF.

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