Easily share documents with employees and access them from anywhere to streamline your HR admin. We do have a founder/president, but . TheHubspot manualmade it on this list because it does so much using a standard PowerPoint style. In doing so, employee handbooks help to establish a culture where issues can be dealt with fairly and consistently. 12 Effective Performance Review Examples [+ Tips From an HR Manager]. I want to start providing 401(k)s to my employees. Creating an employee handbook should be non-negotiable as a tool to help your business run smoothly and help employees know whats expected of them, To create an employee handbook, youll need a firm understanding of your companys foundation, mission, core values, employment law requirements, and more, New hires should receive the handbook by their 1st day of work and existing employees should get a copy of the handbook each time it is updated. This should include: A clear code of conduct section will help you in those difficult conversations with an employee who is not meeting requirements, allowing you to refer back to it for support. Youll outline how you expect employees to treat others, whether theyre colleagues, partners, customers or external stakeholders. In other words, organize your employee handbook so that the most exciting information such as your company values and culture and employee benefits come first. What is the difference between an employee handbook and a policy manual? Its also worth noting here that certain country-specific employment laws may require you to have an official employee handbook outlining mandatory work rules. Learn why you should boot your system of annual evaluations and rethink the way you approach performance management. 2023 PeopleGoal, Inc. All rights reserved. You are required to sign and return the declaration issued with this handbook stating that you have read the handbook and are satisfied as to your and the Charity's responsibilities with respect to health and safety. Tell us what *you* think of our resources and what youd like to see here in 2023. template to help you build out your Workplace policies section, Employee benefits: A guide on common and best benefits, employee handbook pdf and start building yours. The merge request feature enables anyone to suggest improvements or add clarifications, and the issues option is for asking questions. So, including it as part of the handbook makes a lot of sense. Alongside this, employee handbooks will inform employees of what is expected of them in terms of their performance and work standards. Ours is included in all employment offer letters, in the onboarding process and pinned on Slack. Americas: +1 857 990 9675 This easy to grasp technique aligns perfectly with their inbound marketing product. Its about the conditions your employees work in. Driven by a passion for inclusivity, finding the best talent and creating engaging work environments, Victoria thrives by empowering high-performance teams. We created a Leaving our company template to address relevant issues. When a new employee starts at an organisation in a new role . Employee handbooks are in the best interests of both you and the company you're working for. This approach might not work for everybody, but if your company prides itself on its wit, sarcasm, and tongue in cheek approach to communications then this could work for you. The interactive format is visually appealing and easy to navigate. Please ask your attorney to review your finalized policy documents or Handbook. An employee handbook, sometimes referred to as a company handbook, sets out policies that can form part of your employment contracts. Your business's code of conduct is the first place employees should look when they have questions about ethics and compliance. In a nutshell, a well-thought-out employee handbook makes it easy to answer any questions an employee may have, including summaries of all company policies. We crafted a template to help you build out your Workplace policies section. How do I know if I'm supporting the basic human needs of my people? The employee handbook can go by many names such as: staff or employee manual, employee field guide, and culture code. Your employee handbook is likely one of the longest documents youll create and whilst its important to include a lot of information, its also important to make sure you dont waffle on. Outline workplace expectations for all employees including workplace ethics, behaviour and performance. Houston took a comedic approach to their employee handbook with witty text telling their new employees it will be ok. Here are the policies included with tips on how to customize them to your own workplace: Your Code of Conduct provides a framework for employee behavior. Consistent design is key for creating professional branded internal comms documents. Outline the policies that affect your employees. When joining your company, they want to learn how they can divide their time between work and leisure or out-of-work responsibilities. Heres our template to do that. A break out box is an excellent way to highlight the most important information on a page. The ultimate guide to recruiting & onboarding for SMEs, Access over 600 HR consultants nationwide, Registered in England, Company Number 3020608, Copyright 2023 Centurion, all rights reserved. Workest is powered by Zenefits. Check out our otherresourcesfor managing global teams, orbook a demoto see how we can help you and your team grow. Ask yourself, what would my new starter find the most helpful right now? Ask them what they think the most important thing to communicate to new hires would be. #5 - Company Employee Handbook. About us. You should include your disciplinary procedure as part of the employee handbook. Tage Kene-Okafor. It will also display the company's stance on these issues. Words in brackets are placeholders -- substitute them with your companys specific guidelines. Clean modest shirt with collar under the vest. Valve's handbook is a go to example shown by it going viral in 2012. Using AirMason, Hubspot's employee handbook keeps the reader engaged while being effective in getting its companies message across. Europe & Rest of World: +44 203 826 8149 Your employee handbook should outline that this is the case and should clearly explain that it is a disciplinary offence. Some people prefer to work methodically writing pages from start to finish, whereas others prefer to jump about adding information as it enters their brain. Zaarly Employee Handbook is very similar to Sterlings, in that its a webpage with lots of colour and simple text. They help a company outline workplace expectations, giving employees a defined structure to work from. What is an employee handbook? Therefore, it's advised to have a handbook already in place before you begin the onboarding process of any potential employees. You will need a firm understanding of your companys foundation, mission, core values, employment law requirements, and more. Learn about fair compensation and how it can improve hiring and retention rates. The latest insights on today's world of work straight to your inbox. And Policies Now is a deluxe program (hrtools.com; $199) that . As the company grows, having a source of truth regarding processes, codes of conduct, and behaviors becomes integral to preventing and extinguishing conflict. An employee handbook is an essential for any business. 1:05 AM PST February 22, 2023. In this employee handbook example the paragraphs are brief and written simply, so that everybody can understand the information being shared. Download. 3. Our real-time collaboration feature(Business plans only) will help you collaborate with your team anytime, anywhere, in real-time: Post the handbook in various locations. If there is complex information, consider adding a glossary to define concepts or terms. Your harassment policy should clearly state what is expected of employees in regard to their behaviour. An employee handbook sets clear expectations for all employees to ensure everyone within the organization can remain on the same page. Keep your employees in mind by highlighting the most important information foremost. The much-circulated Valve employee handbook (PDF) explains: "Nobody 'reports to' anybody else. It is an essential resource so it is important to get it right. Whether legally required or not, there are many reasons companies choose to have one. A table of contents is also a great way for your employees to quickly skip to a section. Not only that, this handy document can help foster a positive workplace culture and, on occasion, help you out legally. Facebooks employee handbook(now Meta) was so well-designed that it could resemble a fancy coffee table book. 100% Employee Owned Houchens Industries is one of the most diversified and largest 100% employee-owned companies in the country. To narrow things down, you can search online for employee handbook examples that are specific to your industry or culture. It's filled by a humorous but an informative tone making its users feel supported. This policy covers areas such as the use of company electronics to use personal social media. But as your company grows, its helpful to create a central space for all of your processes and policies to live early on. How often should you update your employee handbook? Neither the author nor Workable will assume any legal liability that may arise from the use of these templates. Learn about Save-A-Lot Food Stores Paid Holidays, including a description from the employer, and comments and ratings provided anonymously by current and former Save-A-Lot Food Stores employees. This covers the details on how your organisations will not tolerate and then will deal with harassment or discrimination in the workplace. Include rules for meals and breaks, PTO, minimum wage, overtime, and fair workweek, for instance. Learn More Stronger Together A Portfolio For Success Houchens' CEO, Dion Houchins explains what makes Houchens Industries unique and the benefits of being an employee-owned company. There is a lot of information that employees need to know when starting a new company. Put simply, you should update your employee handbook every time something within your workplace changes. What are some strategies to manage employees who work virtually? However, you will find that some points you should include in an employee handbook are required by law, such as a health and safety policy or data protection policy. IT Department. Tailor your employee handbook to your business, A New Way to Approach Employee Performance Reviews, Compensation Best Practices (HR Checklist + Guide), HR Checklist for Remote Hiring and Onboarding, Allows you to formalize your employment policies and procedures, Helps you develop consistent policies and procedures, keeping all team members on the same page, Decreases the risk of employee complaints and lawsuits, such as employees claiming you did not tell them about their workplace rights. An employee handbook, also known as a staff handbook or company policy manual, is a guidebook that informs employees about organisational practices, policies and expectations. it is not always the most important information in an induction but may be useful to have a reference on hand when it comes to accessing health and financial benefits. When it comes to employee handbooks, just complying with the law is the bare minimum you should be aiming for. The employee handbook will help employees understand how their workplace functions, what is expected of them as well as job expectations. The terminology should be familiar to your audience and easy to understand. Ill explain what you should include in your handbook, along with some employee handbook best practices and design tips. Thats why were breaking down the process for you and offering you 7 employee handbook examples. Including one of these as part of an employee handbook will help employees know what is deemed unacceptable behaviour in relation to equal opportunities. In this employee handbook example an entire page has been dedicated to what to expect on the employees first day. Planet42, a South Africa-based car subscription company that buys . Tip: Use Netflix's "straight to the point" approach to keep your handbook efficient. Using consistent fonts across your brand is one of the easiest ways to create professional looking designs. So, to help you make your own, we explain what one is, why its important and the key points you should be including. At all levels and stages within your company, employee handbooks can be beneficial. . Europe & Rest of World: +44 203 826 8149. This will help guide the rest of your employee handbook, and make sure that you dont miss anything. Tip: Valve continuously uses real life examples, which is great for getting too grips with the office life and to be better prepared for real life situations. Employee handbooks should be designed to do more than just communicate information and answer routine questions; your handbook should help you achieve your organizational goals and objectives. Save-A-Lot employs 5,747 employees. Netflixs employee handbookis particularly worth mentioning because it clearly defines company culture and principles while making them actionable. This means that the handbook can offer both legal and non-legal value, through covering these rights and mitigating any potential conflict within the company by clearly stating the expectations and protocols from day one. It provides new hires and employees with information about the company, such as its: Mission Vision Values Policies Procedures Working conditions Code of conduct/behavioral expectations Customize the template to reflect federal, state, and local laws, and . Some larger organizations will have an in house design team, but if youre faced with designing the company employee handbook by yourself a premade template can be a great place to start. Also, feel free to modify this templates language to match your companys culture. In this employee handbook example dark grey triangles and green accent elements have been used throughout, creating a modern but eye catching design. January 23, 2023 Employee handbooks are the go-to documents within every company. Source, attract and hire top talent with the worlds leading recruiting software. If your company would like to create a custom illustration but you dont have budget, a really simple way to do so is to layer icons on top of each other to create a scene. Lastly, handbooks operate as an information communication vehicle to facilitate the integration of employees within the company while committing to fostering a feeling of belonging across teams. A step-by-step guide. Employees can use the staff handbook to find information on what they should do in various situations, from taking maternity leave to using the internet during work. If you havent devoted the time to writing and designing an employee handbook yetyoure likely not the only one. This is a very extensive handbook at 296 pages. However, if they are minor or non-detrimental and they are not part of the contract of employment, they can be updated in line with current legislation as and when required, without having to obtain your employee's agreement. Even when companies understand what should go into an employee handbook, it can be challenging to visualize what it should look like once its all put together. New employees should receive a hard copy of the handbook on their first day. Here are a few tips for this: More specifically, that would be Kenneth McGrath, former CEO of Lidl, Aldi's main competitor in the European market. It is comprehensive but spaced out to promote digestibility, and also contains a humorous tone with jokes and puns throughout. This will include guidance on workplace ethics and expected behaviour. Here are the contents of our Employment Basics template: This section describes what your workplace is and should be like. For example, in your employee handbook you will tell your employees that they can work remotely for one month each (one of the perks at Venngage! They share their learned lessons on tech, productivity, and culture with employees and other companies through their own handbooks to help navigate the new remote-work world. Direct deposit may seem to be all about saving time and money, but you can be hit with service fees that range from $50 to $149. This covers all the employee benefits and compensation available. Thus, while a list of rules of conduct and a summary of benefits are important information, you should evaluate your handbook on its ability to help your organization meet its objectives. They help a company outline workplace expectations, giving employees a defined structure to work from. Employee onboarding is a crucial stage in all employees career cycle. An important item to include alongside your equal opportunities and harassment policies is your grievances procedure. In other countries like the US, however, no federal or state regulations require an employer to have an employee handbook. Everything, from text to imagery, is visually appealing, engaging, and informative. Trello, another technology powerhouse, is well-known forpublicly hosting its handbook, which they refer to as an employee manual on its platform. From a code of conduct to benefits and perks to employment details, this employee handbook template has everything you need to start your own company policies. You should save the practical information such as how to request for your remote month, and what the working remotely expectations are, in the policy manual. There should also be an easily accessible, interactive online version of the handbook. Step 3: Build your document library with metadata. If you are a large organization with hundreds of employees, your employee handbook will likely be much larger and thorough than the employee handbook distributed within smaller and/or less bureaucratic companies. A companys employee handbook should also detail practical information regarding company policies. If you start with policies or laws, employees are more likely to stop reading. Tell us what *you* think of our resources and what youd like to see here in 2023. If the employee has signed off on these in agreement, these standards can be used legally. However, what they all have in common is that they are a document that should be given to the employee on their first day. An employee handbook provides an introduction of your company to new hires, so use it to communicate your mission and values. Step 1: Write the outline of your employee handbook Provide employees with a copy of our company car policy if they are assigned a company car. The handbook guarantees uniformity in how employees are handled; managers and business owners can consult it when responding to employee inquiries, making decisions, or enacting performance-related remedial measures. However, many federal and state laws require employers to inform employees of their rights in the workplace. Create an account and start building on the PeopleGoal platform. Employee Handbooks SHRM offers two options for creating an Employee Handbook for your company: a free sample template, or a premium, customizable online service. Step 2: Design your employee handbook using a template An employees signature on an employee handbook will show that they acknowledge the company's policy and agree to abide by them. We know theyre not simple to create. Netflix. Try to use your company's products or services as your employee handbook. Youll never lose a document againand nor will your employees! These standards defined in the employee handbook can then be used when approaching an employee for disciplinary action or dismissal. So, start building your employee handbook today! Columns are a great way to keep readers engaged in your writing. What is an employee handbook? An employee handbook is an essential for any business. What are some workforce trends I should be aware of as I plan for 2023? It uses wonderfully colorful children's illustration to bring to life this 7 page handbook. Still need inspiration? The human resources team usually creates and updates the employee handbook as the company evolves. This is an important process in tackling harassment and discrimination. That being said, writing a great employee handbook relies on a thorough understanding of the company and its culture. Aimee Brougham-Chandler, 14 December, 2022 by If you havent created an employee handbook for your business yet youre not alone. Small businesses power the economy. Read our top 10 Employee Handbooks to be inspired! You could also email a copy to your staff and have hard copies around the office, just be sure to keep everyone updated when you update the handbook. This can deter employees from engaging in toxic conduct and encourage them to adopt healthy behaviors and attitudes. Read our Employee handbook sample here . Is an employee handbook a legal requirement? It's a document that communicates your company's culture, expectations and rules of employment. An employee handbook (also known as an employee manual or staff handbook) is a document outlining a business's rules, policies, and expectations for their employees. As a company you should already have one, and by including it in your employee handbook you will provide a reference to employees who are seeking that information. Your restaurant employee handbook is the perfect place to outline how you expect everything to be done in your restaurant, from dishwashing to handling a health emergency. Provides basic explanation of the beginning and the end of an employees career cycle. Getting employees to read the handbook is another battle. It would also be useful to cover areas such as overtime, working hours and family medical packages. In many employee handbook examples, such as this one, the key policy dates or whatever are highlighted in a box that is a different color. On top of those weve mentioned, there are a number of other elements that you should be aware of. Valve also explains its hierarchy which is flat allowing its employee's to pick their projects, which this modern approach to work is supported by Valves slightly "off-beat" approach to its handbook. This will explain to your employees how they can raise a grievance and how you as an employer should respond. Though the information included in every employee handbook fit into a set of common categories, the depth that companies will go into within each category is dependent on various factors such as company size, company industry, company location(s), company culture, etc. The 7 examples we provided above give some insight into how to create an attractive handbook that employees will want to read. After reading the handbook, they should have a solid understanding of the company, including how things are done and whats expected of them. Without these cookies, services youve asked for cant be provided. What actually is a handbook for employees? Founded in 1977, Save A Lot is one of the largest discount grocery store chains in the U.S. with approximately 1,000 stores in 33 states and 13 wholesale distribution centers. thought can save a great deal of trouble and regret. Examples of what you should include in an employee handbook. Our benefits and perks template includes the following sections (but do add your own unique benefits and perks): Related:Employee benefits: A guide on common and best benefits. Venngage offers a variety of fully customizable employee handbook templates for you to use. Most employee handbooks are living documents, meaning they're regularly updated to reflect changes to industry regulations, labor laws or company policy. You could even create your employee handbook as an interactive PDF and interlink between documents and websites, to make it easy for your employees to find all of the specific documents and sites that you reference within the handbook. Lets take a closer look at these reasons below. It provides new hires and employees with information about the company, such as its: For new hires, this information is vital to getting started on their 1st day. It is very extensive and includes future policies about how they plan to scale, which is expected from such a large and fast growing company. Calculator overtime pay for your employees quickly. Error logging in. Shows your commitment to addressing and removing harassment and discrimination from your workplace. 17 Essential Human Resources Poster Templates (Updated) without them you wouldnt be able to use Venngage. Tip: Use rich visuals and a little bit of humour to keep your employees engaged like Hubspot. They can ensure that policies, procedures and working practices are enforced fairly and rigorously, thus eliminating confusion and misalignment within your team. These cookies help us provide enhanced functionality and personalisation, and remember your settings. Employee Performance, 15 February, 2023 by Each company is different. When you shop with us, you'll find quality fresh produce at everyday low prices, fresh meat that is cut in-store, and our award-winning exclusive brands that will save you more. Employers give this to employees to clarify their rights and responsibilities while theyre employed with the company. Toptal has over a decade of experience operating as a remote company. Your complete guide to create an employee onboarding process in your organization. Step 4: Share your finished employee handbook. These cookies are always on, as theyre essential for making Venngage work, and making it safe. Valves handbookprovides the employee with a clear career and company roadmap in a fun storybook format. An employee handbook template is very important in companies, organizations, and businesses. Using visuals also helps retain your readers attention. But in the end, its vital to tailor your employee handbook to your own business requirements. 8 Employee Handbook Examples You Should Steal From. Then build all the metadata columns. Adobe Express saves your work, so you can always revisit your project if you need to update it in the future. Showcase the benefits your company can offer. Here are ten tips for developing an effective employee handbook in 2021. Its likely: often, employees arent aware of the full extent of benefits and perks your company offers. If youre creating your very first employee handbook, or updating your existing one, read on. Its one of many usefulintegrationswe provide. (See Personnel Policies .) Follow these 5 steps to build a high-performance culture in your organization. It guides how employees should behave at the company to ensure that they act in a way that is both legal and in sync with a company culture. In essence, an employee handbook is a simplified document used by employees, whereas a policy manual is an exhaustive policy document, for use by management and Human Resources (HR). Even if you know what needs to go into your employee handbook, such as company policy, you may still struggle to envision what its supposed to look like. Related article: How to create an effective employee handbook. To make things easier for you, Zenefits offers free employee handbook templates and a customizable employee handbook builder. Your handbook should explain how employees clock in for shifts. It contains relevant information about the company and it serves as a reference for any employees who have questions about the policies and procedures of the company. To work on your own Code of Conduct, use our complete template which includes the following sections: This part explains how you pay and reward employees for their work and help them develop. This has become increasingly important with the advances in technology and an increase in remote working. By Andy Stewart. Focus the handbook on sections employees will care about most. This has led to a huge number of our employees staying with us for many years and have actively used, been rewarded or taken part in many of the benefits, extras and memberships we tell you about. Mix and match fonts within your employee handbook to create an interesting design, like in this Starbucks employee handbook example.