Your beautiful, branded, and intentionally “fun” PDF handbook project started with the right goals. For many teams, it’s a meaningful upgrade from the staid, legalese handbook employees barely touched. The content feels more human, the design reflects company culture, and the format is familiar. Teams choose PDFs because they know how they work and because a well-designed one genuinely feels more likely to be read (and a heck of a lot more fun to make).

The problem is what happens after that PDF is distributed. From that moment on, the content is frozen. Policies need ongoing updates as laws change, internal practices evolve, and expectations shift. A static file can’t keep up, and neither can a workflow that requires routing changes through a design team. Each update becomes a multi-step process, which encourages teams to delay changes so they can batch them together. In the meantime, employees are referencing information that’s already out of date.

This article breaks down the risks that come with relying on that beautiful PDF handbook with a custom layout, regardless of how polished or engaging it looks. You’ll see how this approach introduces friction, limits visibility, and increases compliance risk. Additionally, you’ll learn how modern HR teams are moving to a more flexible way of managing and sharing their policies (while keeping it on-brand and engaging).