5 Ways Employee Handbooks Save Businesses Time and Money
We get it, if you’re like a typical entrepreneur the thought of adding policies and procedures to your organization equates to adding additional barriers to getting stuff done and it doesn’t sound too appealing. BUT did you know that well-crafted policies and procedures actually save busy business leaders time AND money? Surprised?
Here’s five ways well-crafted policies in an employee handbook will benefit your organization. Read on to learn more about each one!
Setting the Foundation for Your Organization’s Culture
Total Rewards Showcase
New Employee Onboarding Resource
Confidentiality and Trade Secrets Protection
Compliance with Employment Laws and Regulations
1. Setting the Foundation for Your Organization’s Culture
It might be hard to imagine initially, but employee handbooks actually help to establish the foundation for your organizational culture. How? It starts with establishing the ground rules for how people treat each other. Important policies like Harassment Prevention and Workplace Violence Prevention set the initial tone of what will and won’t be tolerated.
BUT company culture goes so much deeper. Employees want to know what’s expected of them and have a clear understanding that they’re treated fairly and equitably . We have worked with organizations where there were clearly defined policies as well as with organizations that wanted to empower managers to interpret and apply company guidelines for their teams. The latter sounds like a great option for empowering managers in leading their teams, right?
It sounds great in theory; however, efficacy depends on where an organization is in terms of establishing their culture. Organizations that are still developing their culture based on values, trust, empowerment and accountability, seemed to struggle with using mere guidelines and manager discretion in a consistent manner across teams. These managers were consistently reaching out to leadership asking how to interpret and apply the guidelines and oftentimes applying the same guidelines differently to employees on their team. Not only did this take up a TON of time for managers, it also created a culture of what I call “watchers.” Employees were constantly watching what others inside and outside their departments were or weren’t doing. Employees were constantly questioning managers and each other trying to determine if they were being treated fairly, counterproductively creating a culture with an “us vs. them” mentality. A considerable amount of manager and employee time and angst was spent trying to interpret vague guidelines when it really wasn’t necessary.
We certainly are not saying that you have to define every move a manager or employee could make in black and white. We’ve found a hybrid model works best - a combination of clearly defined core policies along with some policies that provide managers a certain amount of leeway based on the role and/or departmental needs. These policies would be customized based on many factors such as: regulatory compliance, manager capacity, organizational goals, culture, etc.
2. Total Rewards Showcase
Not only do employee handbooks set the foundation for your organizational culture, they also provide a good resource for employees to get answers regarding things that are important to them like benefits. This can include health insurance, 401(k), leaves of absence (PTO, parental, bereavement, jury duty, FMLA, etc.), profit sharing to pay for performance plans. These policies outline all the important plan details from eligibility and how to utilize them all the way to what constitutes abuse of these benefit programs. Savvy employers use the employee handbook as an important communication tool that showcases all the wonderful benefits they offer employees as part of their total rewards program along with ensuring employees have the information they need to appropriately enjoy them.
3. New Employee Onboarding Resource
Do you remember when you were first hired at a new job? Everything was foreign and you weren’t even sure what you could wear, if lunch or breaks were pre-scheduled or when your next payday was? Well, many organizations have improved the new employee onboarding experience, but it’s virtually impossible for people to absorb everything they need to know right away. This is where your well-thought out employee handbook can be a tremendous resource and reduce angst for new employees in the onboarding process. Having a “go to” resource should help to reduce new employee questions thus reducing their manager’s stress in answering endless basic questions while the employee gets acclimated to the organization and learns their new role.
4. Confidentiality and Trade Secrets Protection
Is there a super secret sauce that makes your product and/or service special - an ingredient, client list, marketing strategy, training, proprietary documents or “how to” manuals? Would it cause your business irreparable damage if your super secret sauce fell into your competitors’ hands? These are all things you want to consider and ensure you have well-crafted policies in place to protect any and all of your important proprietary information. Just assuming employees know or simply telling employees to keep this information confidential might not be enough to keep your business safe. A well-crafted policy regarding confidentiality and trade secrets makes it very clear to employees there may be severe ramifications if the super secret sauce gets spilled.
5. Compliance with Employment Laws and Regulations
Last, but not least - Compliance. Just hearing the word makes many business owners cringe, but like it or not it’s a very important part of protecting your business. Here’s the tricky part - you are not required by law to have an employee handbook. HOWEVER, Courts, the Department of Labor, and the EEOC may automatically assume if you have no employee handbook, that you have not informed your employees of the important information that you are legally bound to share with employees. Some of these requirements include their right to: protected leave and accommodations (FMLA, pregnancy, ADAAA, etc.), payroll information such as pay dates, overtime and earnings breakdown, and a host of other required notifications.
If you find yourself in a lawsuit, a well-crafted and fairly enforced employee handbook can be an important part of your defense strategy. It helps to show that as the employer, you exercised reasonable care when it comes to effectively communicating workplace rules with employees and ensuring they are applied fairly across the organization.
Employee Handbook Quick Tips
Locate the employee handbook where it’s easily accessible to all employees. This can either be electronically or in paper form distributed to all employees. Of note, the electronic format is easier to keep updated.
Require employees to sign a Employee Handbook Acknowledgement form and keep it in their personnel file.
Realize that the employee handbook is a “living document” and should be reviewed regularly and updated as appropriate.
It Doesn’t Have to be Boring!
Most importantly, your employee handbook doesn’t have to be boring and a dry read. Infuse your employee handbooks with personality that comes from your organization’s mission, vision and values. Incorporating these important pieces into your employee handbook starting with the important Welcome statement all the way through the handbook will further ensure your culture message is heard loud and clear and your organization is set up for BIG success!
