Chances are you’re on the hunt to make your employee handbook a genuine guide that protects your team and your business, not just a snooze-fest of dos and don’ts. This ideal handbook goes beyond rigid rules; it’s a dynamic guide that reflects your company’s mission and values and supports your employees.

Why does it matter? Aside from shielding your company against legal disputes, a well-constructed handbook indicates that your company isn’t just going through the motions of legal compliance. It tells your team that their rights matter, they’re working in a company with purpose that respects and honors those rights, and it ensures everyone’s on the same page about what’s cool and what’s not at work.

Stick with us as we walk you through the required laws for your handbook, ensuring you’re ticking all the legal boxes while also keeping things approachable and relatable for your team of non-lawyer humans. Your handbook shouldn’t just be legally compliant; it should be a user-friendly resource that everyone in your company understands and values.

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.

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.

Your employee handbook is critical to your company’s success. An effective handbook details everything from culture and values to day-to-day expectations to policies that help ensure compliance with employment laws. 

Since it’s vital that employees read your handbook, you should make it as simple as possible to access. So, if you haven’t considered moving your employee handbook online, you should — and not just because that’s what we do here at Blissbook.

In this article, we’ll discuss handbook creation, highlight the perks of going online, and provide some factors to help you choose a platform.

An employee handbook covers everything from your company culture to day-to-day policies and information related to legal compliance. A good employee handbook reduces uncertainty, maintains consistency, and helps resolve conflict.

A table of contents makes your employee handbook easy to navigate. Even better, an electronic or digital employee handbook can include a table of contents with clickable links, making it even easier for employees to navigate to the specific information they need.

By the end of this article, you should know why you need a table of contents and how to create one.

Your employee handbook serves as a guide for both new and existing employees, helping them navigate the company with ease. Creating an employee handbook may seem overwhelming at first, but we promise it’s worth the investment. 

To make your life easier, we’ve outlined the policies you should include in your employee handbook.

Adding an acknowledgement statement in your employee handbook is not just a formality. It’s a safety net to document that your employees have received your handbook. Some acknowledgement statements go even further, asking employees for additional confirmation such as reading, understanding, or saying that they’ll comply with the policies included in the handbook.

But first, let’s understand the role of an employee handbook. It’s a fundamental document that helps you set expectations, guidelines, and policies for everyone in the company. Because your handbook is rich with content, it’s important to collect employee acknowledgement.

Here’s a guide to help you understand why you need an acknowledgement statement and how to make yours as effective as possible.

Imagine this: You’ve just been handed your employee handbook on your first day at a new job. As you begin flipping through the pages, you are met with dry, boring paragraphs of text. Are you inspired to read on, or do you feel overwhelmed?

Now, picture a different scenario: You’re given an employee handbook where the text is interspersed with images, infographics, and/or illustrations. The balance of text and visuals makes the content much more approachable.

Images can transform your employee handbook from an intimidating wall of text into a lively, engaging, and even enjoyable read. Visual elements don’t just make your handbook look good; they aid in comprehension, retention, and overall interaction with the document. When you emphasize design, you’ll make your employees feel how much they matter to your company.

We touch on images and design work in the “The Pep Work” section of our How to Write Policies & Procedures guide, but let’s dive a little deeper on adding images to your employee handbook.

Workplace success often boils down to clear communication, and your employee handbook plays a major role in getting everyone on the same page. Fostering a harmonious and productive work environment requires more than just a competent team. It demands a clear understanding of your company culture, policies and procedures, and expectations.

In this article, we’ll unravel the complexities of creating an effective employee handbook, breaking the process down into simple steps. So, whether you’re refining an existing handbook or starting from scratch, our practical tips will help you create a successful handbook.

An employee handbook serves many purposes — it’s a tour guide, a rule referee, and a cultural compass all in one. When done correctly, an employee handbook is a living, breathing document that cultivates understanding, facilitates communication, and creates a shared sense of purpose among your diverse team. 

But that’s just the beginning.

Let’s explore the benefits of employee handbooks and the ways they supercharge engagement, communicate policies and procedures, and set your organization up for success.

Your company values. Of course they’re important. And it’s easy to throw them into a list that can be used in many places. On the back of an ID card. Painted on a wall. In your email signature. You get the idea. But as Netflix points out in their culture deck, actual values are not just words you show in a lobby. Your actual values are shown by how you hire, reward and release people.

If you want everyone who makes those decisions at your company to make them correctly – i.e. based on your values – they must truly understand what those values are and, more importantly, what they mean. That requires more than just a list.

Creating this type of training content can be difficult. With that in mind, here’s an excerpt from our upcoming e-book entitled “How to Make a Culture-First Employee Handbook” that might give you the helping hand you need to turn your values content into more than just a list.

Company Values

Every company has core values, whether they’re written down or not. To make them more than just nice-sounding words, everyone at your company must live them unconditionally every day.

Before any decision is final, employees should ask, “Is it in line with our values?”

Core values are the behaviors, skills and attributes that employees value in all people. They define who you and your employees are deep down inside. Each value must be universally beneficial: something you think everyone should hold in high regard; not just those within your company (yes, even competitors).

Tips:

The format of your values should be an adjective for a person. You can think of values as virtues. Most companies have 3 to 10 core values.

You may want to go into detail about each value to make sure employees know what you mean. If you’re having trouble thinking of some good details, try answering some of these questions:

• What actions demonstrate this value, in general? You can write these out as: You do / make / think / identify / recognize / understand, etc. …
• Why is this a value? What is its intent?
• What are some specific examples of how someone can demonstrate this value?
• If someone asked what the value means, is there an easy answer? Why is it a good answer?
• What other adjectives would you use to describe a person with this value?
• Is this value a new idea of how to live your life? What’s the old way and why is this way better?
• Are there any exceptions to this value?
• Are there any famous quotes that express this value?

Bonus!

A generous and thoughtful Blissbook customer saw the values help text inside of Blissbook while they were creating their employee handbook and were inspired to send a list of dozens of example values. We thought it’d be valuable to pass on so click that link if you’re interested. And if you’re in need of a therapist in DC please talk to our friends at Therapy Group of DC!