Tip of the Week: Put Policies in Writing for More Impact

Are your company’s policies and procedures documented? If not, they should be. Having a policy and procedure manual will act as an easy-to-distribute guide to educate your staff on the expectations you have for them. It will also provide a physical document that can be referenced if employees have questions about anything pertaining to your business. Today, we will give you a few tips on how to best go about completing an employee handbook for your business. 

Tip # 1: Cover Everything

When putting together your employee handbook, you will want to first prioritize what policies, processes, and procedures you would want every member of your staff to know. Obviously, the more information an employee has, the better he/she will understand what is expected of him/her. Some of the information will need to be in there by law, including:

• FMLA information
• Non-discrimination policies
• Sexual harassment policies
• Worker’s compensation policies

Other policies that are important will also want to be included. They include:

• Paid-time off policy
• Payment times and promotion/review policy
• Employee behavior expectations
• Employee dress code
• Benefit structure
• Remote work policy
• Social media and employee device policy

Finally, you will want to outline your company’s mission, history, and any other company culture-related information that you find important to publish.

Tip #2: Prioritize the Layout

Obviously, most businesses won't be able to write every policy and procedure employees should know in a handbook that most employees will simply discard the first day they get one. It is, then, extremely important which policies are written toward the front of the handbook. Along with this, you will need to ensure that each policy is sufficiently explained. You don’t need to be a professional writer, just explain the policies completely and try to be thorough.

Tip #3: Update as You Go

As important as company policy is, there should always be an opportunity to update it as things change. Having success or failure with any single policy could require amendments be made to them. This means that while giving an employee a handbook when he/she starts working for your company, you should always provide digital access to this document as you will likely need to make changes to it in the future. Ensuring that your handbook is updated with the most current language keeps confusion to a minimum. 

An employee handbook may not seem crucial, but it can be a beneficial piece to add to your administrative resources. If you would like help putting together your policies, IT or otherwise, call the business experts at BNMC today at (978) 482-2020.