Employee Handbook: What is it & How to Create it? (Free Template Included)

Today, we are going to teach you how to quickly create an employee handbook and keep all your employees on the same page.

Having a clear, transparent relationship between employees and the company is a must to building a healthy, long-lasting relationship. According to a study by TINYpulse, transparency is the number one factor in determining employee happiness in the workplace.

An important part of transparency, is the communication and understanding of company rules, policies, procedures, and values. An employee handbook is a tool that can help you build the foundation for a healthy relationship.

Here are some of the ways employee handbooks are beneficial:

• It helps new employees get up to speed and ensure their smooth transition into the company.
• Acts as a shield for company protection against any future lawsuits or disagreements.
• Ensures all employees are aware of company rules and what is expected off of them.

However, writing an employee handbook is quite a difficult task. Don’t worry we’re going to teach you how to take it head-on!

We’re going to cover everything there is to know about an employee handbook, what information it should contain, how it should be written, and a bonus tip at the end of how you can write an employee handbook quickly and effectively. Read on…

 

What is an employee handbook? (Definition)

An employee handbook or an employee manual is defined as a document consisting of company policies, procedures, and rules that include working and behavioral expectations to guide employee actions.

An employee handbook allows employees to understand what is expected of them and what they can expect from the company.

New employees are usually handed a copy of the employee handbook along with a legal document to sign. The legal document states that they’ve read the handbook and agree to the terms and conditions. This process helps companies avoid conflicts in the future.

Read more: How To Write A Stellar Instruction Manual

 

What to Include in an Employee Handbook?

An employee handbook should be written clearly and in language that is easy to understand. You must avoid writing a complicated employee handbook, filled with technical jargon and long-format explanations.

The information in the handbook should be precise and well explained for everyone to fully acknowledge and embrace it.

An employee handbook usually begins with a welcome message and an explanation of the purpose of the document. A typical employee handbook usually contains the following:

• Information about the company
• A welcome letter from the CEO
• The company’s mission, vision, purpose, values, and broad strategic goals
• Equal employment and non-discrimination policies
• Equal employment opportunity
• At-will nature of employment
• Code of conduct
• Safety and security
• Pay policies
• Non-compete, non-disclosure, and employee confidentiality agreements
• Benefits
• Sick leave policy
• Paid vacation policy
• Family and medical leave policy
• Assessment processes for promotions and raises
• Process for filing complaints
• Organizational information
• Pension plans
• Parking for employees

You’ll want to include information that is relevant to your company. It’s important that your employee handbook is kept current and as your company evolves.

 

Why create an employee handbook in the first place?

Having an employee handbook in place has several advantages:

• Facilitates the smooth functioning of an organization by outlining the do’s and don’ts of the workplace beforehand.
• It helps employees understand their roles and responsibilities and what is expected of them in terms of job performance and general code of conduct.
• Creates an atmosphere of equality in the workplace. In this way, employees can do their work freely and positively, knowing that the rules and policies of the organization don’t vary from employee to employee or situation to situation.
• Ensures employers are consistent in the enforcement of company policy and maintain a healthy work environment.
• It creates a useful resource to keep all the key policies and procedures in one place by creating a knowledge base so that you don’t have to keep looking for answers from co-workers or seniors.

By putting out an effective employee handbook, the company ensures a positive, harmonious, fair, safe, and productive work environment. As a result, the handbook can protect the company from various discrimination or harassment lawsuits and can also help employees in defending a lawsuit.

 

How to Create an Employee Handbook Easily?

Creating an employee handbook is not an easy task. Here’s why:

• An employee handbook is not a one-page document you can sail through quickly. Writing down the rules, policies, procedures, ethics, etc. requires a deep understanding of the company norms.
• If you have a big company, the creation of the employee handbook must require inputs from upper-management, HR, and the legal department. Having all these people together in a single workplace to write, give suggestions, and garner feedback is tricky.
• Creating an employee handbook might require a team of copywriters, editors, and proofreaders to make sure the document is written in a structural manner, free from any grammatical errors or typos.
• You also need a document editor- to create the employee handbook- as well as a knowledge management tool- to safely keep all of this information in a secure, centralized location.
• It’s important to treat your employee handbook as a living document and make changes to it as your organization evolves.

Here’s the Smartest Way to Create Your Employee Handbook

Creating, editing, sharing, and storing your employee handbook is no easy task. Here’s how we recommend that you take on the challenge in the least stressful way.

Bit.ai is a new-age document management and collaboration tool that helps teams to collaborate, share, track, and manage all company knowledge in one place. It’s the perfect tool to create, store, and share an employee handbook.

[/vc_column_text]

[/vc_column][/vc_row]