An employee handbook lays the groundwork for how a business runs from day to day. If your handbook isn’t used or updated consistently, your business may not be running as efficiently as possible and be at high risk for costly employee relations issues.

Your handbook needs to reflect compliance with applicable federal, state and local laws. This does not mean that every law needs to be specifically addressed and reiterated in detail in the handbook. Rather, the handbook should not conflict with any applicable law and should contain a clear statement that the company intends to comply with all applicable laws.

Your handbook should be tailored to your company and should clearly reflect how your company does business. Copying another company’s handbook or just adopting a handbook you find online, even from a very reputable source, may do more harm than good.

Benefits of a Good Employee Handbook:

• Reduction of risk – Employee Relations Lawsuits can easily be SIX FIGURES.

• The peace of mind that comes with KNOWING your policies are compliant.

• Consistency in policies across your entire organization

• Reduced risk of discrimination by following your newly developed concrete policies.

• Rise in employee morale, increase in productivity and in your bottom line.

A well-written, lawful employee handbook has no downsides and provides an employer with all the flexibility necessary to address the myriad of possibilities when it comes to employee actions and inactions.

Even though employees won’t always follow the rules, they do like to know the rules. Employees like to know what conduct is expected by the company and what punishment they might expect if they fail to follow the rules.

An employee handbook is primarily a rulebook. Written correctly, the handbook allows a company to address a wide variety of rule violations without limiting the company’s ability to respond on a case-by-case basis as necessary.

For this reason, it is suggested that most employers avoid a formal progressive discipline policy wherein a list of rule violations is associated with a particular “punishment.” Most companies are much better off training managers to respond appropriately and timely to employee rule violations and/or poor performance.

You want employees to behave in a certain way:

Your company handbook should tell employees what your company expects not only to avoid disciplinary action, but also to tell them how they can succeed. For example, the employee handbook should tell an employee how to: request time off, inform the appropriate manager about possible harassment or discrimination, keep a time record, report possible theft, dress in an appropriate manner, refrain from drug and alcohol use, maintain confidential information, interact via social media, use various electronic resources, comply with applicable laws, etc.

You want your employees treated in a consistent manner: While a handbook should not be an “instruction book” on how to manage or deal with every conceivable problem or issue, it should provide a framework for managers to follow in dealing with various circumstances.

You want to win unemployment claims:

In most states, winning an unemployment claim for a terminated employee requires proof that the terminated employee was on notice of a certain rule (or rules) and had been warned that violating the rule would lead to disciplinary action up to and including immediate termination.

A well-written employee handbook is the beginning of a successful defense. The page of the handbook containing the applicable policy, as well as the signed acknowledgement page, should be the first step of any unemployment paperwork submission for a rule violation or poor performance termination.

Many employment-based lawsuits hinge on consistent treatment of employees and/or ensuring that employees were on notice of important company policies and procedures. A well-written employee handbook that reflects a company’s actual practices serves both of these purposes.

The employee handbook and the employee’s signed acknowledgement form are nearly always exhibits in a lawsuit and can help a company win a lawsuit. Imagine a jury looking at your employee handbook:

What does your current employee handbook say about your company? Is it out of date? Does it contain unlawful provisions? Does it contain inconsistencies? Could it be a better reflection of your company?

If you don’t think a jury would be impressed with the quality of your handbook, consider revising and updating your handbook right away.

HIPAA and PPACA: While some of the Health Care Reform mandates have been pushed out a little further, there are still a few things you need to do now. And one of them is updating your Employee Handbook to make sure it is in compliance with the Health Care Reform changes.

Important: Offering Coverage to New Employees and Defining Full-Time Employees For more information on custom employee handbooks, please feel free to contact Maria Novak, owner of Marketing Solutions & Business Development.

Maria L. Novak Dugan is president of Marketing Solutions & Business Development, a firm in West Chester, PA, offering creative marketing services and goal implementation for small & medium sized businesses. For more information, contact Maria at 610.405.0633 or MariaNovak001@yahoo.com or visit www.Maria-L-Novak.com.