Employee Handbooks
The ultimate staff handbook to communicate your culture, policies, and expectations effectively
The Importance of an Employee Handbook
While employee handbooks often are a neglected and undervalued tool, handbooks serve many purposes. A well-written company handbook informs employees of their employer’s culture, policies, and expectations. In addition, an up-to-date, thoughtfully drafted human resources handbook, tailored to your organization’s unique needs, is a strong line of defense against litigation and liability. By contrast, an outdated, poorly written HR handbook can cause legal and practical headaches for Human Resources and management.
Flexible Solutions to Develop or Update Your Employee Handbook
When was the last time your organization updated its employee handbook? If it has been more than two years since your last comprehensive review, it is time to revisit and update.
If your answer is “What Handbook?” – MEA offers flexible, affordable services to put one in place.
Online Member Portal
MEA Members have access to up-to-date downloadable sample employee handbook policies in our Help & Resource Center, which can be further supplemented by materials available through Zywave, an extensive catalogue of HR, Benefits, and Compliance articles, apps, and alerts.
New Workplace Handbook
Is your handbook outdated or non-existent? Using legally compliant templates, we collaborate with you to create a clear, customized employee policy handbook tailored to your company’s unique needs.
Legal Review of Current Handbook
Already have a handbook for employees? Our team of employment law attorneys will review your employee handbook policies and structure, as well as create a report outlining suggested changes and/or additions. You can choose to make the changes yourself, or we can implement them for you at an additional cost.
What Should Be in an Employee Handbook?
There is no limit to the information that could be included in a staff policy handbook. Some of the most common items we recommend include:
Establishing your core values.
This section should explain the overall goal of the company and how each employee’s role contributes to that vision.
Outlining your code of conduct.
This should include information about how employees are expected to treat one another and how they present themselves publicly to clients and on social media platforms.
Conveying legal standards and how your company maintains compliance.
This should cover how time is tracked, how often breaks should be taken and what their durations should be, overtime policies, as well as expected consequences should these not be followed.
Explaining the benefits.
This should cover how much vacation and sick time employees receive, how the time accrues, instances where PTO may not be honored and the process of requesting time off.
Setting expectations for performance reviews.
Note how often employee reviews occur and what expectations should be met prior to each review.
Equal Opportunity Employer Statement.
Explain how employees are protected from discrimination based on their race, religion, gender or age and outline the series of actions an employee should take if they feel they are being harassed.
Establishing security policies.
Include detailed information about the equipment that is required to perform the job and the software that is required to protect personal information and data.
Ready to take your next step and start a company policy handbook?
Reach out to discuss how we can support your staff handbook needs.
