This article is designed to familiarize you with how to create a disclaimer for your employee handbook. Although it is quite comprehensive, it does not cover 100% of all situations you may find yourself in.
We want you to enjoy reading this article, and a big part of that is making sure it’s a good fit for you and for us. With that in mind, your time here is at-will, meaning you can browse to another website at any time, and we can shut down this blog at any time, with or without cause or prior notice. Reading this article does not form a contract between you and Blissbook, express or implied, although we’d be happy to make that happen.
People are indeed the worst.
Your company’s employee handbook should have a successful and effective disclaimer. If you have any questions, please contact us.
We are not liable if the information herein is TOO helpful in helping you craft a bulletproof yet culture-first disclaimer for your employee handbook.
Is this joke getting old yet? 😄 Let’s talk about your employee handbook disclaimer! A handbook disclaimer protects your company! It:
Ensures employees know your handbook is not 100% comprehensive
Informs employees how to get help with any of your handbook’s content
Reiterates employees’ at-will status
Makes it clear that your handbook isn’t an employment contract
Emphasizes that the policies within are subject to change
Renders all other versions obsolete
In this article, we’ll talk about why disclaimers are important, what your disclaimer should — and shouldn’t — include, and how to create an effective disclaimer for your employee handbook.
Blissbook now has the ability to provide law change alerts to customers! What follows is an alert we recently wrote on a topic that can affect all companies as it deals with how broadly many “work rules” are written.
Overview
On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a decision (Stericycle Inc.) that reverses an earlier precedent (Boeing) that itself had modified an earlier decision (Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia). Confused yet? Basically the NLRB said, “nevermind” to how they were operating for the past 6 years and moved back towards standards first established in 2004.
The NLRB said the primary problem with how they’re operating is that it permits employers to adopt overbroad work rules that chill employees’ rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the right to organize, form, or join a union).
This is a guest post by Matt Tanner from Same Page HR. It first appeared in his newsletter, Working Theories. If your small business needs fractional HR support, give Matt and his team a holler.
Imagine your boss pulls you aside one day and breaks the news that your company is in financial trouble. Word has come down from management that spending must be reduced and jobs are going to be eliminated.
You’ve been a model employee, so you’re given a choice: keep your job and take a 15% pay cut, or pack your things and leave with a one-month severance package.
So you need to come up with rules for the workplace. Or maybe you’re updating your existing policies and you’re trying to make those final decisions about the perfect wording. Or maybe you’re trying to nail down your list of company values or virtues.
A background in ethics, morality, and the philosophies that aim to guide how we as humans should behave can give you a baseline to work from (in addition to, you know, what your laws say). It can also provide frameworks you can use to make decisions. Don’t know which way to go with the wording of a policy? Stress test it against this background and the right answer becomes evident.
But who has the time for a “background in ethics, morality, and the philosophies that aim to guide how we as humans should behave”? Not you! Well, you’re in luck. I recently read How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur and I’ve turned what I learned into a cheat sheet, just for you.
Blissbook feels like the best way to present a handbook to employees … but why? Does it really reduce risk and help employees feel valued? If so, how does it work?
We use a variety of techniques rooted in behavioral psychology to reduce the risk of litigation, improve compliance, and encourage employee engagement.
Senior? Junior? Mid-level? How do you know the difference between employees? This is often based on years of experience, which is dumb. Someone’s “level” is not time-based. Everyone learns at a different pace, and we all have inherently different mindsets. Some of us act like toddlers no matter how old or experienced we are, and we’ve all seen teenagers who act wise beyond their years.
Here’s how we break it down at Blissbook (and how you should break it down, too). We’re assuming your company has some sort of a mission, vision, or purpose + core values or behaviors. If you don’t, start there.
Happy Friday Friends! This week’s Bugle is a little abbreviated, but we’ve got some news for you. We’ve grown this week and that means a better, bolder Blissbook for you across our entire company. We’re rebranding and are working harder than ever to provide you with the best policy management experience possible. Here’s a sneak peak at one part of our new brand:
After you pick your jaw up, why not take a look at some of the best HR, leadership, and policy management articles we found from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy and have a super-duper weekend!
Happy Friday! Hey, did you read last Bugle about how we just launched automated reminders? Blissbook can bug everyone who won’t sign their handbook so you don’t have to!
Anyhoo, the Bugle is here with the best HR, leadership, and policy management articles we found from the last couple of weeks. There was a lot of activity at the state level over the last couple of weeks, so make sure you check that section out to see if anything pertains to you. Enjoy!
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Article of the Week: We love this week’s highlighted article (look for the ✦ below) because of its great advice on providing more autonomy and social support in the workplace. We need more of this!
Happy October! We just had the second-hottest September on record here in Atlanta, so we’re hoping the calendar change will bring some shade.
That said, we’re staying hot at Blissbook, as we just launched automatic reminders! Now you can set up a cadence of reminders to be sent to all the slackers out there who won’t sign their handbook. Get in touch with us if you want to be one of the first to try it out.
As always, the Bugle is here with the best HR, leadership, and policy management articles we found from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!
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Article of the Week: We love this week’s highlighted article (look for the ✦ below) because of the tenacity and experimentation. They kept trying things until they got it right! We hope you enjoy it and are inspired to do the same with your projects.
And a special shoutout to the “A Letter” article towards the end of the newsletter. Get some tissues ready!
