Make This Common HR Mistake At Your Own Peril – HR Affiliates Blog
Not having an employee handbook is one of the most common and detrimental HR mistakes. Employee handbooks serve a valuable and necessary role, since they clearly communicate company goals and policy. Not properly explaining these features can have potentially devastating effects on your business. In this post, we explore the ways employee handbooks can set the tone for the company culture, establish conduct expectations, and outline workplace policies.
Set the cultural tone for your workplace.
Establishing your company culture is a challenging practice. Fortunately, your employee handbook gives you the perfect opportunity to convey your company’s ethos in the language you wish to use. What’s more, the design of your handbook will go a long way in communicating your preferred tone for the culture you wish to create at your business. Moreover, the employee handbook can declare the values and mission of the company in concrete terms. Without a tangible, carefully constructed employee handbook, you run the risk of losing control of the direction of your company culture and its core goals, which could prove disastrous as your business grows.
Clarify employee conduct expectations.
While it’s safe to assume discriminatory practices and violent behavior are universally rejected in the workplace, every company has different rules and regulations regarding employee conduct. Without a detailed handbook, your employees will remain unsure about acceptable workplace practices and, more importantly, what’s off-limits. As you go forward in drafting your employee handbook, you can precisely outline how you expect employees to conduct themselves at the workplace.
Get everyone on the same page about workplace policies.
The employee handbook will ultimately protect you from costly lawsuits through a clear outline of your company’s workplace policies. This section of the handbook communicates information from workplace attire to social media at work, to more significant areas like PTO and Equal Employment and Anti-harassment clauses. Without this clear language detailing necessary workplace policy, your company will be more vulnerable to widespread confusion. Further, without a polished employee handbook, you risk higher employee turnover, a disconnected and blurry company vision, and potential wrongful termination or discrimination litigation.
We want to help you keep your company on the right track. We also want you and your employees to be on the same page. When we team up to draft a clear and compelling employee handbook, we effectively accomplish both of those goals. Fill out the form below, and let’s have a conversation about executing a comprehensive employee handbook.