Do you have any tips on how to develop an employee handbook to have processes and procedures in place so there’s consistency?

A good place to start in the development of a handbook is to ask your people what information they need, what information would have been helpful to have when they started and what information they would like to have at their fingertips for easy access. By doing this in collaboration with your employees you will gain their buy-in and trust. This will also help you create a document that is not only comprehensive, but is also one that will get used.

There are several sections that are important to cover, such as:

Introduction to your organization. Your mission, vision, and values as well as purpose or philosophy statement, the products or services offered by your organization, organizational chart, critical customer outcomes, and so on. Anything that is going to give your employees a good understanding about your business how it works and how they fit in to the picture.

Position descriptions and job descriptions. Include the purpose of each role, the expected outcomes of the jobs and the required behaviours of the work place.

Recruitment and selection process. Your hiring process from sourcing to selection — both internal and external.

New employee orientation, induction, or on-boarding process. The process you use to make sure new employees know what is expected of them, how and where they fit in to the organization, where to find the resources they need, who to ask if they need help and the rules around their employment, etc.

Probation. Rules around any probationary period and how you assess whether someone is permanently appointed.

Hours of work. Any rules you have about punctuality, changing schedules, public holidays, overtime, timesheets, etc.

Pay and personnel records. This includes pay days, pay slip information, cut off dates, pay schedule, access to information, etc.

Staff benefits. The benefit packages offered by your organization, eligibility for benefits and any discounts to goods and services or other rewards.

Leave. Annual, sick, maternity, paternity, adoption, long service, compassionate, study, jury service, ceremonial leave, leave without pay etc. Specify eligibility, time restrictions, etc. Your process to apply and be approved for leave, etc.

Termination of employment. What is the process for resignation & termination? What warrants termination? What is considered abandonment of employment?

Privacy, confidentiality and intellectual property. Your policy and process for access or sharing, as well as consequences for not following procedure.

Appearance and standards of dress.

Travel and expenses. Travel budgets, how to access travel funds, eligibility for travel expenses.

Employee performance reviews. Timelines, process and purpose.

Learning and development. What learning and development opportunities are available, who is eligible, how learning and development opportunities are accessed.

Poor performance. Your process for managing poor performance and the steps involved.

Behaviour. This is where you cover off anti-discrimination, workplace bullying and harassment, racial vilification, workplace health and safety.

Code of conduct. What minimum standards of conduct are required by the people of the organization? What does that behaviour look like? Be specific.

Alcohol and drug policy.

Grievance procedures. Your process that describes how an employee with a problem about a manager or other team member can go about getting it resolved.

Administration. This includes items such as certificates of service, phone procedures, office appearance, email and blogging policies, computer policies, mobile phones and personal calls, cars, equipment, handing media enquiries, dealing with customer complaints or aggressive customers.

Contract disclaimer. State in at least two places that the handbook in no way represents a contract between you and your workers. Also be sure to include a place to sign that indicates that the employee has been made aware of the handbook, where to find it, and how to access or use it.

Once you have compiled your handbook, remember that updating it on a regular basis is important. If you can add it to your calendar for annual review or set up a review committee made up of your staff that are charged with ensuring the document stays up to date, this is helpful – and again goes a long way to buy- in and effective use of the document. If you opt for a committee approach, make sure they have access to employment standards, the human rights act and are kept abreast of any changes to employment law.

If you are creating a new document, make sure you are in compliance with labor and employment standards.

To submit a question for a future column, or to comment on a previous one, please contact editor@charityvillage.com. No identifying information will appear in this column. For paid professional advice about an urgent or complex situation, contact Kathline directly.

For more information about how your organization can develop a comprehensive prevention program and provide valuable learning for this topic to your staff contact Gailforce Resources at info@gailforceresources.com.

Disclaimer: Advice and recommendations are based on limited information provided and should be used as a guideline only. Neither the author nor CharityVillage.com make any warranty, express or implied, or assume any legal liability for accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided in whole or in part within this article.

Please note: While we ensure that all links and e-mail addresses are accurate at their publishing date, the quick-changing nature of the web means that some links to other web sites and e-mail addresses may no longer be accurate.