Whether or not this is your first rodeo, creating or overhauling an employee handbook is a big project. If you know the traps you might encounter along the way, you can devise a plan to avoid them. These five pieces of advice will help you steer clear of common pitfalls during your next handbook project.
Happy 100th Bugle! There’s just something special about the number 100. It’s the sum of the first nine prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19 and 23). It’s the total number of United States Senators. It’s the amount of tiles in a game of Scrabble. It’s how many Bugles we’ve carefully crafted for your enjoyment…you’re welcome.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, look at these awesome HR, leadership and policy management articles we found over the past couple weeks.
✦ ✦ ✦
Article of the Week: Has social distancing driven you to a place of self-reflection? Rather than viewing your imperfections negatively, this Bugle’s Article ‒ er, Video ‒ of the Week might help you view them in a different light. Look for the ✦ below, you beautifully flawed specimen.
Want to pick the brains of other HR professionals? We’ve done it for you by compiling a list of the top six resources to help you write handbook policies and procedures. Click away!
Feeling hesitant about taking the handbook updating plunge? We know it’s hard. Before diving head-first into our complete How to Write Policies and Procedures guide, test the waters with these top tips for writing policies and procedures.
Although we saved this topic for last, it’s arguably one of the most important handbook decisions you’ll make. Before you’re buried in policies and procedures, be sure you’ve nailed down your handbook delivery method. Your chosen distribution channel will change the way you present content to your audience, so it’s important to know before you start writing.
How many online
employee handbooks have you created? Chances are the answer is zero, zip,
zilch, or nada. We, on the other hand, have become quite familiar with the
steps it takes to launch your new or updated company policies. As a result, we created
a checklist to keep a project like this organized and on track. This project
management is baked right in to Blissbook, but since not everyone gets to
experience the joy of this in-app functionality, we thought we’d share it with you
here as well.
Listed below are the common milestones you will achieve from the day you decide you want to redo your policies/handbook through your launch and follow-ups. Want these milestones to-go?
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.
After pouring your heart and soul into your policies and procedures, your handbook deserves the best launch in the history of launches. As indicated in Part 2, your marketing / communications team can help devise a strategy for unveiling your handbook – and we’ve created a worksheet to make it easier.
Now that you’ve identified your project scope and goals, who should you involve? It’s best to start with a small team, but multiple viewpoints can create the best end result. It’s imperative that you involve the right people at the right time. If you’re too early or too late, you might run into avoidable issues, such as eleventh-hour budget concerns or the need to reengage leadership when your attorney tells you a policy needs to be modified.
Save everyone, especially yourself, the hassle by thinking proactively. Want to make that simple?
Funny seeing you here. After wearing our thinking caps and racking the brains of HR professionals and employment attorneys, we created an expansive resource on how to write policies and procedures. And, if that wasn’t enough, it even comes with a companion workbook. Now we’re talking!
Anyway, enough about us. To keep your HR, leadership and policy management game strong, check out the articles we found over the past couple weeks.
✦ ✦ ✦
Article of the Week: Whoops, back to us. Normally we bury the Article of the Week and have you hunt for it by looking for the ✦. However, we’ll make it extra simple this time: