Your employee handbook will play a vital role in keeping the peace and confusion under control with your employees. When you start hiring new hires, you should also have an employee handbook ready to post during indoctrination. The manual doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it should cover basic policies and regulations to begin with, as well as comply with state and federal labor laws. Companies operate efficiently when their employees know all the standards and policies and there is absolutely no ambiguity. Once the manual has been published, the business owner or manager can never deviate, and each policy must be applied consistently to all employees within the business organization.

Deviating from established policies or applying policies inconsistently can lead to discrimination lawsuits. To avoid discrimination lawsuits, each policy must be applied equally and without prejudice. Note that changes to the employee handbook are certainly allowed, as long as extensive notification is provided to all current employees. The amount of notice required varies by state, check with your state Department of Labor for requirements on how much notice you will need. Here is a list of items your employee handbook should cover:

  • When overtime is paid, this policy must comply with the labor laws of your state.
  • Benefits: benefit-covered employees, part-time vs. full time.
  • Attendance Policy – You must address the consequences of being late, such as disciplinary action.
  • Procedures for hiring / firing employees.
  • Holiday Pay – List of holidays that employees receive compensation.
  • Harassment Policy – List the process for reporting an instance of harassment and how it will be resolved.
  • Property Policies – Addresses the use of company property such as vehicles, computers, telephones, etc.

Simply including the aforementioned policies in the manual will help address most of the problems you may encounter with your employees in the course of your business activities. Know that this is a living, breathing document that will need to be updated to address the complexities resulting from business growth, as well as updated to comply with changes in labor laws. Each policy must be written in a concise and clear manner. In addition, you must give the employee handbook to each new hire, as well as a new copy each time the handbook is updated.

As a precaution, you should also have the employee fill out a form acknowledging receipt of an employee handbook. This would protect you from an employee claiming they were unaware of your policies because they never received an employee handbook from your organization.