Employee Handbooks

An Employee Handbook is a valuable document that all companies (of all sizes) should have. Its main purpose is to communicate your company’s HR policies, procedures, and rules to new and existing employees – helping them to understand how you do things, and what you expect from them in terms of standards, behaviour and performance.

As a minimum, all employers (even if you only employ one person) must have written Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

HR policies and procedures are important as they provide structure, control, consistency, fairness and reasonableness in a business. In addition, they also provide transparency in how processes will be managed, and should be easily accessible by all managers, and employees alike.

It’s best practice to give employees an Employee Handbook on their first day, or even earlier if you can. If possible, we recommend sending new employees a copy of the handbook along with their offer letter and Contract of Employment.

It’s important for business owners to ensure their employees are up to speed with all the things that make their business run smoothly and successfully.

By having an Employee Handbook, all your HR policies and procedures are in one easily accessible place. This makes it easier for your staff to understand things like how to report absence, their entitlements to sick pay, and how to request holiday.

As well as being a quick and easy reference point for employees, it saves employers time, too, as employees can find answers to business-related questions easily without needing help.