{"id":3730,"date":"2019-01-02T18:39:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/?p=3730"},"modified":"2022-04-13T14:02:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T14:02:57","slug":"tips-to-improve-employee-handbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrdirectapps.com\/blog\/tips-to-improve-employee-handbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 9 Errors to Eliminate with Your Employee Handbook"},"content":{"rendered":"A well-written employee handbook<\/a> serves a vital role in the workplace. It outlines key policies, provides ground rules for conduct and helps create a positive and successful working environment. It can also protect you legally if questions arise about fair and consistent treatment.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, a poorly written handbook or one with inconsistencies can cause legal problems down the road. Your employee handbook should address common situations that occur in your workplace, while allowing enough leeway to handle unique circumstances in the best way possible. It\u2019s also important that you keep your handbook up-to-date with all federal and state employment laws.\r\n\r\nAn employee handbook is an important tool to help new and existing employees understand your company background, procedures and culture.\r\n\r\nAvoid making these common mistakes (or worse, violating the law) with your employee handbook:\r\n

1. Irrelevant or confusing language.<\/h2>\r\nYour employee handbook should be specific to your organization and reflect the way your company actually works. A document filled with boilerplate legal statements or overly general policy statements won\u2019t be useful for your employees. Instead, provide specific details about what your organization does, why it exists, how it is structured and what the culture is like. Explain in plain terms what your company\u2019s expectations for employee conduct are and how infractions will be handled.\r\n

2. Not including important policies<\/a>.<\/h2>\r\nYour employee manual should be the go-to resource for all of your company policies and operating procedures. Put everything in the handbook so employees don\u2019t have to search through various documents, online resources or old emails to find policy statements. Be sure to update the handbook as new laws or procedures come into play. For example, if you adopt new technology that changes how vacation requests are handled or create a social media policy to address concerns about employees divulging trade secrets, include it in your employee handbook.\r\n

3. Unclear policy details.<\/h2>\r\nYour employee handbook should include details for how employees report a violation (such as in sexual harassment claims) and what enforcement of a policy includes (such as possibility of termination). Include details about who to contact (by title) for reporting infractions or making requests. Also be sure to make distinctions between guidelines (non-mandatory suggestions) such as \u201cemployees are expected to dress professionally\u201d and policies (mandatory requirements) such as \u201csafety helmets required at all times in loading areas\u201d.\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nGuidelines and policies are not the same thing. Guidelines are non-mandatory recommendations. Policies are formalized statements with requirements for how to perform a function or task \u2013 and violations may be disciplined.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

4. Promises or implied contract.<\/h2>\r\nWhile spelling out all of your policies is important, including the wrong sort of details, such as the exact steps in a progressive discipline policy or how many days a harassment investigation will take, can backfire. An employee handbook shouldn\u2019t read like an implied contract (\u201cfollow these rules and you will do well here\u201d) but rather provide guidelines for behavior and reassure employees that consistent policies will be applied. Be clear about the consequences of policy violations (\u201cviolation of this policy may result in dismissal\u201d) but allow some room to address special circumstances.\r\n

5. Omitting important legal statements.<\/h2>\r\nDon\u2019t overlook key federal and state employment laws when creating your employee handbook. In particular, be sure to include statements about:\r\n