Every HR leader knows the feeling. You’ve poured time into crafting a thoughtful employee handbook, yet months later it’s gathering digital dust or sitting untouched. Employees either forget it exists or avoid it because it feels irrelevant, outdated, or just plain hard to read.

The truth is, an employee handbook becomes far more valuable when employees actually engage with it. When employees don’t use the handbook, its ability to build alignment, answer questions, and support the company is limited. The challenge, then, isn’t just writing a handbook; it’s creating one that feels alive, approachable, and worth revisiting.

This guide will walk you through the essential elements of a handbook employees actually want to use, from keeping policies current to making the experience engaging and culture-driven. And yes, tools like a digital employee handbook platform (oh, hello Blissbook) can make this process smoother, smarter, and far more effective.

Do we really need to ask everyone to sign the handbook again? It’s a question HR teams ask often, usually after updating a policy, refreshing some language, or publishing a revised version of the employee handbook. And it’s a fair question! Getting signatures takes time and effort, and it interrupts your employees’ flow. Doing it too often can feel excessive, but skipping it altogether could leave your company exposed.

Here’s the good news: most handbook updates don’t require employees to re-sign. Minor wording tweaks, reorganized sections, and even moderate policy shifts can often be communicated without triggering a formal acknowledgment.

But there are moments when a re-sign is more than just a nice-to-have. Maybe you’ve made significant changes to your policies, moved to a brand-new platform, or had a major legal shift that affects how your employees work. In these cases, a new signature can help reinforce clarity, accountability, and compliance.

In this article, we’ll walk through exactly when employees should re-sign the handbook, when it’s overkill, and how to manage the gray areas in between. Because getting it right isn’t just about checking a box, it’s about protecting your people, your policies, and your peace of mind.