Why Every Company Should Have an Employee Handbook
This blog is the first in a three part series. These articles are developed from the ComplianceHR whitepaper: Seven+ Reasons Why Every Organization Should Have an Employee Handbook. If you are interested in the whitepaper, download it here.
What is an Employee Handbook?
An employee handbook provides your employees with a detailed overview of the organization’s policies and communicates other key procedures, guidelines and benefits.
At the highest level, it sets clear expectations for your employees while also stating your legal obligations as the employer and defining employee rights. A well-crafted and up-to-date employee handbook can also help to protect your company against employee lawsuits and claims, such as wrongful termination, harassment and discrimination. Finally, the employee handbook can effectively introduce your business for new hires, reinforcing the company culture and expectations, and helping new employees to understand your mission, values, and purpose.
Why Does My Organization Need an Employee Handbook?
Beyond the practical applications of educating managers and employees, perhaps the most important reason to create an employee handbook is to help mitigate risk for the employer.
How? A well-crafted and accessible employee handbook creates a solid legal foundation that defines the relationship between the employee and the company, and also defines the general approach and specific policies the company takes to be compliant with the applicable employment laws.
Employee handbooks are the vehicle to document and communicate the company’s employment processes and policies. By ensuring that all managers and employees reference the same guidelines, Human Resources and Legal leaders can help to reduce the significant risk that exists for employers.
The ultimate goal is to create a great employment relationship. By clearly spelling out the rights and obligations of both the employee and the employer, the handbook can help to reduce the likelihood of employee lawsuits.
What Challenge Does an Employee Handbook Present?
A big challenge for employers, especially those with multi-state footprints, is that a handbook needs to show compliance with all applicable federal, state and local employment laws and regulations, which are constantly changing.
Smart employers have a process, and the appropriate resources, in place to keep their employee handbooks up-to-date and compliant.
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About ComplianceHR
ComplianceHR offers the only on-demand, intelligent suite of compliance applications focused on helping companies address the ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements on many common HR topics such as minimum wage, overtime, independent contracting, and more.
We provide employers of all industries, sizes, and locations with solutions that empower employers to handle complex compliance issues with less time, cost, and complexity than traditional methods. The Navigator Suite simplifies employment law compliance, allowing you to streamline your compliance workflow in only a few simple clicks.
One of our most popular applications, PolicySmart, is an intuitive handbook compliance tool that provides employers with national and state specific templates, a unique compliance timeline, and so much more. Fueled by the subject matter expertise of Littler, the world’s largest employment law firm, PolicySmart allows users to easily create and maintain legally compliant handbooks that are cost effective, up-to-date, and delivered on-demand.
If you are not already a ComplianceHR client, we welcome you to sign up for a quick intro call and product demo with one of our compliance experts. After the demo we also offer a free, 14-day trial to explore all of the Navigator Suite applications and see for yourself how they can transform your compliance practices. Register for a demonstration today.
