Invest in Employee Handbooks
An employee handbook is a workplace reference guide used to manage employee expectations and define employment guidelines. This documentation is important to guide both employees and managers, as well as to ensure that important regulations are followed. Writing policies can seem daunting but is a task that can be made simple through software, templates, and expert guidance.
Benefits of Employee Handbooks
Depending upon the needs of your business, you can design an employee handbook to be either formal or casual. For extremely small businesses that may have only a handful of workers, an employee manual can be just a few pages, explaining the most important information on conduct. Larger business handbooks may span dozens of pages, creating an intricate system of HR policies and procedures.
Employee handbooks allow personnel to understand:
• Work/life information, including time off and work schedules
• Behavior guidelines, including at-work and off-duty expectations
• Interpersonal standards, including policies against harassment and discrimination
In addition, employee handbooks establish HR policies and management parameters. This benefits the company by providing:
• Clear and concise information, avoiding erroneous interpretations
• Standardized behaviors, holding all personnel to uniform requirements
• Legal and regulatory adherence, for businesses guided by industry-specific rules
Employee Handbooks in Today’s Workforce
Employee manuals have evolved and become living and breathing documents. Not long ago, an employee may have received a bulky book of policies on their first day of work. Those policies may have been written once and used for many years. The pace of technology these days, changing work/life expectations, and social norms has dictated that this documentation become easier to update and share.
Several innovations business owners or HR managers can take advantage of, to effortlessly create and manage employee guidelines include:
• “Fill in the blank" software or policy templates, to guide development through standard employee governance areas
• Company intranet or shared drives, to ensure policies are readily available
• Document collaboration sites, to draw feedback and encourage cooperative policy design
The Cost of Compliance
When you consider how much it may cost your company for software or policy experts, take into account the high cost of non-compliance and poor employee conduct and management. Those potential repercussions are a compelling reason to ensure you have an employee handbook worthy of becoming a textbook guideline or sample. Beyond that, clear expectations and guidelines can lead to enhanced employee engagement and efficiency.
The cost of software to develop policies can range upwards of several hundred dollars. You may also bear the cost of hiring expert-level contractors to ensure policies are designed specific to your organization. Simpler organizations that require simpler policies may decide to use in-house personnel to craft an employee manual. In this case, consult knowledgeable sites on the internet to view easily customizable samples.
Employee handbooks including HR policies and employee guidance are a must for businesses of any size. Building adequate documentation can ensure that employees and managers perform to expectations and comply with regulations. You can rely on easy-to-use forms and evolving software to ensure your business builds and maintains the employee manuals it needs to run smoothly.