How to Write an Employee Handbook, Conveying Both Policies and Culture
A Well Crafted Employee Handbook Benefits Everyone
For the business owner, it is a great opportunity to clearly communicate critical information about your business. How your business came to exist, your values in conducting business, and how you envision your employees bringing your business vision to life can all be expressed. It’s an early chance to convey company information and philosophy. It is also a great opportunity to give newcomers a sense of your past, present, and future.
For the new employee, information about company organization and operation allows them to see how they fit into the bigger picture. Company policies give a clear view both of what is expected of them and of what they can expect the company to provide. Knowing that company policies are clear and provided to all employees can make a difference; “employees like to feel that they will receive equal treatment, regardless of the situation or position. This feeling of equality promotes a team atmosphere that’s important to productivity.” The orientation which a good handbook provides can help newcomers feel a part of what they are joining from early on.
Writing your Handbook: Tone is Everything
Forget about any hard and fast rules of writing; it’s entirely your choice how you want to approach this. Take a look at The Motley Fools’ “Fool’s Rules” and find humor on every page. Browse Zingerman’s Handbook and experience the company’s philosophy toward customer service come through loud and clear, both in words and cartoons.
How you write your handbook is as important as what you write. John Mackey of Whole Foods Market surveyed many handbooks as he prepared to write theirs, finding them “almost entirely mechanical in their approach, bulging with rules about everything imaginable.” He found the tone even more troubling, “they seemed almost contemptuous of employees.”
If your purpose and values are to be carried through in every aspect of your business, this includes communications with employees. Tone is content. Consider how a new worker might feel reading a handbook which adhered to this advice: “Start by detailing all the stuff that could get your company in trouble. Your message: Don’t do that!”
Compare that to the reaction of a new worker reading the employee handbook of Whole Foods Market. The handbook talks about “how we work together, relate to each other, to our guests, to our suppliers, and to our community. These principles are at the core of everything we do; they drive our decision-making, they help us with our planning, and they guide us in our daily work.” Not only are company rules detailed in this handbook, but explanations of the philosophies which underlie them are discussed alongside.
Tips for Writing a Great Handbook
Bringing together practical details and philosophical outlook can be a powerful tool for communication. Trying to cover everything though, is not only impossible, but undesirable. State your mission, keep it simple, and communicate clearly how an employee can seek out further information as they need it.
Tone will vary, but the following are areas which are important to cover:
Introduction
- Mission Statement: What We Do and Why
- Company History and Future Plans
- What we Believe in: Core Values
- Overview of Company Structure and Roles of Various Departments
- Employment Policies
- Guidelines for Conduct
- Pay and Benefits
- Leaves of Absence
- Health and Safety
- Employment Separation
You may decide to create your own handbook entirely on your own or use a software program which provides a template. You might consider hiring an outside consultant to help you write your manual. In either case, you may opt to bring in legal counsel to ensure all areas are covered properly. Think about what you want to convey both in information and in tone and get creative!