Value of Employee Handbooks

Shawnee Love   •  
August 30, 2011

In light of all we know about employee motivation and engagement, and that fact that companies with high employee engagement grow 269% faster than their rivals as reported by Profit in March 2011 it makes sense that you would want to think about your people practices, no matter what size of company you are in.

In May I blogged about the employment documents companies should have in place. I thought it might be useful to chat now about the contents of a good employment handbook.

Before going there, we need to talk about why we even need a handbook. I have worked with lots of clients who don’t think they need to go to the trouble of writing down all this information because “the team doesn’t need the bureaucracy of a policy and procedure manual”. The error I see in that assumption is that a handbook doesn’t have to be bureaucratic and only about policies and procedures. It is an honest mistake though. Google “employee handbook” and you will be inundated with reams of policy manuals written by aspiring and actual lawyers who love to hear themselves talk and truly believe you must spell everything out so there is no room for misunderstanding. In reality, I think they are treating people as if they are dummies. I have said before that we should write handbooks for the good employees and simply not hire or fire the poor ones.

From my perspective, a handbook is usually written for one of these reasons:

  • To comply with the law (privacy, human rights, employment standards, etc.)
  • To orient employees to the company
  • To explain the practices
  • To ensure managers remember the practices (especially on those rarely accessed things like jury duty, etc.)
  • To highlight benefits and perks of working at the company
  • To reduce time wasting questions
  • To create consistency & fairness across teams
  • To ensure employees know their rights, responsibilities and expectations
  • To set expectations amongst employees (e.g., as it relates to promotions, wage increases, etc.)

I describe a handbook as the company’s version of a travel guide designed to educate employees on what to expect, how to act, etc. during their journey within Company X. It should be a resource for new hires and long term employees alike to know the way things are going to be handled.

If you are still with me, then check back next week for my ideas on what should be in every handbook.