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Employee Handbooks Make Sense For Small Employers
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Article 7: Update Your Handbook Regularly
Your business undergoes constant transformation. Your employee handbook must do the same.
“A handbook is a roadmap but it’s not unchangeable,” says John Rico, director of human resources for National PEO, a professional employer organization with offices in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Boca Raton, Fla. “It will metamorphose as you go along and your culture or vision changes.”
Some modifications will be apparent to you. Maybe your state has new laws regarding maternity leave. You must alter the words in your handbook to comply.
Other changes will be more subtle. Maybe your business started as a fast-track organization where a small group of people worked long hours. In those days your policies might have been stricter on work hours but looser on dress codes and the use of customized screen savers.
Today your business is more established and you need to tighten up on your dress code to better serve customers, but you loosen up on personal time off so hard working people can enjoy flexible work schedules.
How to decide what changes you need in your handbook? Why not ask your employees?
“I firmly believe in allowing a select group of employees to provide input into the handbook before it’s released to the entire employee population,” says Liz Weber, president of Weber Business Services in Greencastle, Pa. “They can point out inconsistencies and potential problems with implementation, as well as policies that may be confusing to a majority of the employees.”
Employees can provide vital feedback about planned policy changes.
Perhaps the company wants to prohibit the use of personal screen savers. If individuals accept this in stride, then maybe they welcome a change. If you hear a lot of gripes, you might want to consider that employees are accustomed to a certain culture and maybe your change is a little too abrupt.
Indeed, be wary of abrupt changes that cause more harm than good.
“You need to realize that long-time employees are used to a way of doing things,” says Rico. “By making things too strict and detailed, the long-term people may get the idea the company is taking a different turn, and that can scare some long timers away.”
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