Employee handbooks, also known as employee manuals are one of the most important documents that any small or large company should have. One of the main advantages of the manuals is that they aid in establishing uniform and well defined employment policies.

The manuals also aid in helping employees to treat their employees the right way. Here the manuals define and codify the employer’s standards and through the standards the employers are able to treat their employees consistently for a long time.

The handbooks also serve as convenient devices for communication between the employers and employees.

Through the handbooks, companies are able to encapsulate all of its policies in a great format that makes it easy to disseminate information to its workforce. This makes communication easy between the employer and the workers.

The final advantage is that the manuals aid in preventing employee lawsuits. Since the manuals are clear that they are not intended to create contracts, they prevent employee lawsuits. This aids in ensuring that the company keeps on running smoothly without any interruptions.

What to include in the employee handbook

There are a number of things that should be included in the employee handbook. Some of the important things that should be included are:

Policies: there are a number of policies that should be included in the handbooks. The beneficial ones are: family medical leave policies, equal employment and non-discrimination policies, and worker’s compensation policies.

Important clauses: in addition to policies there are a number of clauses that the manual should have. For example, the manuals should state that the handbook is not a contract.

The handbooks should also make it clear that the information in the handbooks is the word of the company. Since times change and new things arise every day, the handbooks should state that policies are subject to change if necessary.

To protect the business and verify that the employees are aware of the policies, the handbooks should have an acknowledgement page.

Company’s history: this should be a brief section giving the company’s history and its mission. When writing the history, you should not make any promises. For example, you should not promise to pay your employees top dollar.

Employee behavior: here you should discuss the way that the employees should conduct themselves. For example, you should state how the employees should dress, use the internet, and handle conflict resolution. For ideal results, this section should be very general in nature.