Say goodbye to the days of long, boring handbooks that evoked yawns and glazed looks from employees everywhere. There’s a whole world of outstanding and unputdownable employee handbooks that convey policies and procedures in a way that engages and ignites a sense of belonging among workers.
We’ve compiled five examples to show you creative ways to present information and foster a positive work culture. Whether you’re creating a new employee handbook or revamping an existing one, these examples provide valuable inspiration and guidance.
Let’s dive into some exceptional employee handbooks and uncover what makes them stand out.
“Employee handbook” and “policy manual” might sound like interchangeable terms, but they’re two separate items, each with their own distinct purpose.
By understanding the differences between an employee handbook and a policy manual, your company can ensure the right people have access to the appropriate level of information. Properly documented and communicated policies can also help you minimize liability risks in the workplace.
In this article, we’ll break down everything you need to know about employee handbooks and policy manuals, including their purpose, contents, and requirements.
We’ll also highlight the main differences between the two documents.
Let’s take a closer look at how to distinguish between employee handbooks and policy manuals.
A signature page gives an employee handbook its power, so it should be a priority when developing your handbook content. Though it can be easy to get caught up in the ins and outs of the policies themselves, your signature or acknowledgement page is what makes things official. By signing, employees affirm that they’ve read the expectations detailed on the acknowledgement page.
In this article, we’ll explore signature pages from all angles, including what they are, best practices (with examples), and how to create and design an effective signature page for your employee handbook.
As a business owner or HR professional, you have many priorities, like hiring, training, and ensuring operations run smoothly. Your employee handbook can help you perform these tasks by giving employees easy access to the necessary information.
Employee handbooks give all employees clear guidance on your company’s policies, procedures, and expectations. Better yet, an effective employee handbook benefits people at all levels of your organization — from new hires on day one to managers celebrating ten years at the company.
In this article, we’ll explain what an employee handbook is, why it’s important to have one, and what it should include.
We’ll also discuss when to create your employee handbook and provide guidelines to help you get started.
Lastly, we’ll go over the various platforms you can use to create your employee handbook, including Microsoft Word, Google Docs, knowledge management platforms, or specialized employee handbook software like Blissbook.
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.
Welcome statements are the first thing employees read when they join an organization and review the employee handbook. Your welcome statement sets the tone for the work culture and makes a lasting impression on new hires. Plus, current employees may re-read it when they look to the employee handbook for answers to questions.
Creating an effective welcome statement is crucial for companies that want to build a positive and productive work environment.
In this article, we’ll discuss what a welcome statement is, why it’s important, and how to create one that sets the right tone for your organization. By the end of this article, you’ll have a clear understanding of the guidelines for writing a welcome statement, examples of effective welcome statements, and a detailed process for crafting your own.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We know the main purpose of your employee handbook is to lay down the law — er, politely convey your company policies and procedures so everyone can work happily ever after. However, at Blissbook we believe your handbook can and should be so much more.
By approaching your handbook with company culture in mind, you can communicate much more than typical how-not-to-get-in-trouble content. In addition to demonstrating your company’s values and guidelines in your everyday actions, your employee handbook is a great place to showcase what matters to your company and why.
When creating your employee handbook, we know your top priority is to communicate your organization’s policies and procedures. Nobody’s trying to swindle you or lead you to believe otherwise. That said, some handbooks make employees feel like another number (read: a number that can be fired for many reasons). Other handbooks inspire employees to feel like part of a team that happens to have rules to enable everyone to work together successfully.
We prefer the latter.
Here are three ideas to make your employee handbook less of a snoozefest.
It’s common to think of an employee handbook as a guide of dos and don’ts — but it can be so much more.
Your employee handbook can be your most valuable tool in making a good first impression of your organization in its entirety. What better time to induce the feels than when new employees come on board?
Though it may sound complicated, it’s actually quite simple.
Tell them why — why you exist, and why they should care.
If your employees understand why you do what you do, they’re more likely to want to be part of it. And that means they’re also more inclined to adhere to your policies and procedures.
By using your employee handbook to highlight your organization’s mission and vision, you can make Day 1 more impactful than ever.
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.
