Why Every Employer Needs an Employee Handbook

You might be surprised at how many small- to mid-sized businesses do not have a quality employee handbook, or even a handbook at all. Admittedly, employee handbooks are not the most exciting project to take on, nor are they extremely important in day-to-day operations. This, however, does not mean they are not critical for every employer to have. Employee handbooks that are purposeful, detailed, and well-written have the ability to minimize many of the human resource challenges business owners dislike taking on. Here’s how:

Handbooks save time. How many business owners want to spend their valuable yet limited time on lengthy new hire orientations or having to debate with an employee about a policy they thought was clear? An employee handbook reduces onboarding and training times by having all policies outlined clearly in one place for a new hire to review. Likewise, it ensure all employees are aware of and have access to consistent procedures and guidelines, eliminating any question about what is and is not acceptable within the workplace.

Handbooks reduce potential regulatory exposures. Most employers are familiar with the Department of Labor (DOL) to some degree. Many, however, are unfamiliar with the intricacies of remaining compliant with the numerous rules and regulations imposed by the DOL. A well-written and detailed employee handbook reduces your exposure to non-compliance by communicating policies, benefits, and work standards in a single document received and seen by every employee. It is also the one of the most appropriate means of disseminating legally required policies, such as anti-harassment, family and medical leave, or drug testing policies.

Handbooks ensure high quality hires for a high quality business. High quality employee handbooks ensure that policies and procedures are known and enforced equally throughout the organization, which is shown to increase moral as well as lead to higher quality outputs. High quality people want to work at high quality and successful businesses. Therefore, in order to best recruit and hire high quality talent, and quality employee handbook is an essential tool to have.

While it may seem like an easy solution, every business is different, so it is difficult to simply “plug in” policies into a handbook template. Instead, you are best served by investing time and resources in developing a well-written, purposeful, and detailed employee handbook tailored specifically to your business. Regardless of the size of your business, if you are an employer, it is well worth the time and effort on the front end. With the potential to save you time in training and onboarding, better prevent legal exposure, and increase the quality of your new hire prospects and overall success as a business, there is little argument with the fact that you are much better off having an employee handbook than you would be otherwise.

Whether it’s just a policy addition or an entire handbook, The Arnold Group’s experienced HR Business Partners will assist in developing clear and appropriate polices that are up-to-date and tailored for your industry and company culture. We can audit your existing handbook or develop a customized handbook to ensure your content is current, relevant, and required. Additionally, we can help design the internal procedures behind your handbook policies as well as assist in training your managers and supervisors regarding their responsibilities outlined in your policies.