Cultivating Culture: Employee Handbooks & Policies that Support a Values-Driven Workplace
A primer on employee handbooks for curious, action-oriented leaders
What’s in this knowledge article?
What are Effective Employee Handbooks, Policies, and Codes of Conduct?
Why Create These Documents?
When & How to Establish Handbooks, Policies, and Codes of Conduct
Resources
What Makes an Effective Employee Handbook
An employee handbook outlines a company’s employee expectations, mission, values, and policies. An effective handbook establishes a safe, legally-compliant work environment and fortifies your culture in a way that is easy to digest and implement. Handbooks typically include:
A code of conduct summarizing the key behavioral expectations so that people treat each other according to the company’s values and legal requirements
Key policies establishing protocols and guidelines for widely-applicable employee matters
Culturally important company information (like the company mission or history)
The handbook should not contain every policy. Rather, to be easy to use and understand, it should contain the Code of Conduct and those essential and foundational policies. To keep it easy to read, remember, and live, it should not be too lengthy. We recommend that policies not needed on a daily basis be kept separate but easily accessible as needed.
Other policies which supplement the handbook (which may apply only to a subset of employees, or which are used infrequently) are linked to or referenced within the handbook but live externally to the handbook.
Why Create and Share Your Handbook?
Frame your culture: Your handbook signals what’s important for your culture, protocol, and legal compliance. They enshrine expectations in a highly visible, tangible way.
Uplevel your onboarding: Successful onboarding includes reviewing a handbook and related policies for new hires. It is one of the earliest opportunities to instill expectations, culture, and values in a repeatable and consistent way to your new employees.
Satisfy legal requirements, customer expectations, and audits: Documenting (and following) your people practices will provide you with the consistency you need to make legally defensible talent decisions. Similarly, customers or audits may require you to uphold certain ethical standards or provide copies of certain policies and you may want your vendors to abide by your Code of Conduct as well.
Navigate ambiguity or policy violations: When something out of the ordinary happens, policies and handbooks can provide the guardrails and decision criteria you need to take fair, legally defensible actions.
When & How to Establish Handbooks, Policies, and Codes of Conduct
When to create (and update) a handbook
The earlier the better! As you grow, so does the risk of inconsistent practices which can lead to discrimination and, potentially, a claim.
How to implement a handbook
The legal landscape can vary from place to place, and employment laws change from time to time. Thus, all companies should engage experts to create their handbooks and other policy documents and then review them annually. The best handbooks reflect your company culture in tone and content, and that level of customization takes time and intention!
Handbook, Code of Conduct, and Policies: Step-by-step
Select an expert. There are many handbook templates and vendors in the market- some better than others! Law firms, HR PEOs, and even some HR software providers generally offer a canned or customized handbook. Be sure your provider can accommodate your location and specific industry specifications.
Ask your legal counsel and executive stakeholders to weigh in on what they think is important to include in your handbook.
a. Scrutinize the handbook offerings using your business and industry needs. What appears to be a legally comprehensive solution may not always meet the requirements for any audits to which you are subject.
b. Include context and aesthetics that reflect your mission and values.
c. Make sure the language and tone is digestible. Any employee should be able to read and understand your handbook. It should be consistent with your culture as well as the tone you generally use for employee communications.
Have the vendor compile the handbook and ask legal (along with any other important stakeholders) to review it.
a. Ask your legal counsel to ensure the handbook provides all of the policies you need to operate within the law.
b. Work with your legal counsel to adapt any policies to reflect your culture or preferences while remaining legally compliant.
c. If your handbook was put together by a law firm, confirm with them that the policies are specific to your locations, industry, and company needs.
Share the documents with employees. Discuss when it goes into effect, where they can access it, and why it’s important.
a. Share why the handbook is important, how it will impact operations, who must follow its policies, and where to go if you have questions or concerns.
b. Anticipate questions and concerns and proactively create clear, transparent, and empathetic answers to them. Share appropriate information with managers or other employees may go to for help.
Align processes to comply with your policies and handbook and put protocols in place to keep everyone compliant.
Once the handbook is in place, an important next step is putting compliance training, manager training, and a reporting mechanism in place.
Other common and recommended protocols for embedding your policies into the fabric of your company are new hire onboarding, asking employees to sign a form stating they have read any documents, and scheduled annual or bi-annual document revisions.
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Resources
ADP: 8 Keys to Creating an Effective Employee Handbook
SHRM: How to Develop an Employee Handbook (SHRM membership required)
Paychex: Creating an Effective Employee Handbook for Your Business
Zenefits: 7 Employee Handbook Examples You Should Steal From
