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Employee Handbooks Make Sense For Small Employers
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Article 5: Introduce Handbooks To Current Employees
Giving employee handbooks to newly hired individuals is usually a painless process. After all, new people will welcome a document that outlines their rights and responsibilities.
Introducing a handbook for the first time to current employees, though, is a different matter.
They may view the handbook as an intrusion, representing a new set of rules and regulations that threaten to make their lives uncomfortable. They may see the handbook as a sign of management distrust, or at least that the workplace is becoming less friendly.
How can you introduce an employee handbook without alienating your work force? The answer lies in good communications.
Introduce the new handbook at a company-wide meeting. Make sure the right people are on hand to address the concerns of employees.
“The owners can articulate a vision better than the management staff,” points out John Rico, director of human resources for National PEO, a professional employer organization with offices in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Boca Raton, Fla. “And there will be a lot more ‘buy in’ when employees can see it’s not just their supervisors rolling out these policies, but it is a company-wide thing.”
To smooth the way for acceptance, emphasize the value of the handbook to employees rather than employer, suggests Katherine E. Bierma Pregel, an associate with the Washington, D.C., office of Littler Mendelson, the nation’s largest labor and employment law firm.
Words such as these can encourage employees to welcome rather than resent the new handbook: “You have legal rights as employees, and the policies set forth in this handbook demonstrate that we are complying with the law and honoring your rights.”
Employees will also wonder why you’re introducing a handbook now.
Pregel suggests explaining that your business is approaching the time when a defined set of workplace policies will be crucial to success: “We are growing and we are planning to grow further. The employee handbook sets forth policies that apply to your employment, many of which have already been in place. The handbook provides you with a convenient reference if you have questions regarding the company’s policies.”
You can introduce a new employee handbook to your current workforce as long as you soften the blow with sensitive communications.
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