Mastering Workplace Success: The Crucial Role of an Employee Handbook

Don’t tell our friends that are attorneys, but your organization needs a handbook for many reasons and not just for legal ones. One of the biggest reasons is the value of having a document of predetermined decisions. By that, we mean that if an employee asks you about a work-related situation you've covered in your handbook, your organization doesn't have to decide anything in the moment. This is because your handbook is already a list of written processes for different potential circumstances such as: how your organization will handle leaves, accommodations, grievances, and what is allowed or expected around technology usage.

For example:

• An employee needs surgery and wants to know if they have to use all of their leave

• An employee is a first-time parent and asks if they are eligible for any paid time off

• An employee needs an accommodation of some sort and requires help with how that process works

From our experience, we have found employees want to understand the rules of engagement or expectations around how things work in a place of business. When neither employees nor their managers can easily find the answer, they tend to get frustrated, and rightly so.

So yes, of course, you need all the required legal components of a handbook, but being proactive and managing employees' expectations by providing them with a document outlining how the organization handles numerous situations can make all the difference.