Reasons you need an Employee Handbook

1. If your policies are not written down, chances are that your employees have very different ideas about their rights, responsibilities and tasks than you do.


2. An Employee Handbook sets standards for acceptable and non-acceptable conduct by employees, and provides clear guidance about penalties and consequences for poor behavior.


3. It prevents past and present activities — good and bad — that tend to become “unofficial” policy.


4. It prevents new staff from getting incorrect information from current workers. Makes it easier to orient and initiate new employees with correct information from the beginning.


5. Employees cannot try to excuse conduct that is harmful to your company, other employees or customers by claiming that they did not know the company’s policies.


6. Employees with unsatisfactory or undesirable performance can be sacked with less risk of legal problems when your employee handbook includes specific causes for dismissal and outlines a consistent disciplinary procedure. In the absence of written policies, managers will make their own policies ‘on the fly’.


7. It provides information about benefits programs available to employees and what steps are necessary to obtain those benefits.


8. An Employee Handbook reduces the chance of hiring someone who may not be comfortable with your workplace by letting applicants read a copy of the employee handbook to learn about the workings of your company.


9. Educates employees of their duty to safeguard confidential company information.


10. Discourages unreasonable demands and requests for exceptions or special consideration from employees, since limits on entitlements are detailed in the employee handbook.

Thanks to Barkeeper.com