What should a staff handbook include

Companies also outsource recruiting to staffing agencies and professional recruiters sometimes called headhunters. How do applicant tracking systems ATS automate recruiting? An applicant tracking system ATS automates nearly every task involved in hiring. These tasks include job posting, tracking and managing resumes, sending emails to applicants, creating hiring workflows, filtering candidates, creating interview scripts, and writing job descriptions.

How can job boards improve recruiting? A job board is a search engine that allows users to search open jobs by a variety of variables. These include job role, geographic location, industry, and job type contractor, part-time, remote position, etc.

Some job boards concentrate on a specialty such as tech jobs while others focus on a specific geographic area or an underrepresented employee demographic. Job seekers can apply for jobs and upload resumes on the job board. Recruiters can post open jobs and search for best-fit candidates in the resume database. What is a job distribution platform? This is a website that aggregates thousands of independent job boards.

Users can search by job title, location, company, job type part-time, remote, intern, contractor or many other variables. Employers and staffing agencies use job distribution platforms to place their open jobs on multiple job boards without needing an individual account for each one.

Using a job distribution platform can be quicker and less expensive than posting to job boards individually. Job distribution platforms also provide AI tools that help recruiters identify the best job boards for their specific job openings. This removes some of the guesswork in choosing the best advertising channels for job postings. Violation can land you in expensive litigation. Millions of employees started working from home last year due to lockdown orders.

Telecommuting What is telecommuting? Telecommuting is the practice of an employee working away from the employer's physical business location. The employee often works from their place of residence.

It can also refer to mobile employees who travel for work. Is telecommuting the same as working from home? Telecommuting is also called work from home, WFH, remote working, and virtual working.

Employees who work offsite are called telecommuters or remote workers. Job positions that allow the employee to telecommute are called remote positions, virtual jobs and flex jobs. What is a hybrid workforce? A workforce that includes telecommuters is also called a virtual team or distributed workforce. A hybrid or hybrid virtual workforce has employees who telecommute and some who work in the office.

In addition, the employees may have a schedule that alternates working from home and working in the office. Why do companies allow telecommuting? Employers don't need to purchase or lease as much office space when employees telecommute. Having remote workers saves money on business expenses.

Some businesses offer telecommuting because it allows them to hire employees who are located far from the organization's physical location.

Companies also allow telecommuting because many employees prefer it to onsite working. Some employers have discovered that telecommuting improves productivity, employee satisfaction and retention. Pandemic lockdowns increased telecommuting significantlyIn early , when the COVID pandemic prompted government lockdowns, millions of employees around the world were sent home to work if their job could be performed offsite. As of this writing January there are still many businesses that haven't required telecommuters to come back to the office.

How do employers manage telecommuting? In order to pay each employee correctly, employers need mobile time and attendance software. Employee timekeeping apps have a web portal for clocking in and out.

Time tracking software improves compliance and ensures payroll accuracyU. A good time tracking app that everyone uses is your number one tool for telecommuting labor law compliance and paycheck accuracy. Apps with Mobile Location Management make timekeeping easy. The employee clocks in on a connected device the location tracking feature must be enabled and the system records their location. Employers who want to restrict punches outside of an authorized work location can use an app with geofencing.

Geofencing is a feature of Mobile Location Management that gives supervisors additional oversight into work locations. The manager defines a radius around the employee's authorized location.

If an employee punches in outside of the geofence, the app alerts the manager that the punch is out of bounds. For example, clarify when you expect remote employees to be available.

Outline Time and Attendance What is time and attendance? Time and attendance, in the HR world, is the process of tracking employee work hours. How does time and attendance influence an organization? Modern cloud-based work tech automates time tracking.

Your staff can clock in with a physical time clock or through an online web portal. Mobile and remote employees can clock in with an internet-connected device wherever they are working.

These systems align time tracking with overall HR management. What are the benefits of automated employee time tracking? Choosing the right timekeeping system is a critical.

Your system has a profound influence on culture, efficiency and productivity. Payroll depends on it. Project management depends on it. The process used to track time and attendance is integral to the employee experience.

An inaccurate or confusing method wreaks havoc at all levels. A straightforward, uncomplicated, and transparent process creates a positive work culture and improves employee engagement. Similarly, update policies on breaks and flexible time. Plus, for guidance on how remote working affects your company culture, get Remote Corporate Culture.

There are new state laws on background checks. This is an area to keep an eye on, especially if you are doing criminal background checks routinely. Include instructions, consent, privacy policies, and acceptable practices. In addition, make sure your managers are up to speed. Review and update your meal and break laws often.

Make sure hourly employees clock out for unpaid breaks. That would put you at risk of an overtime violation. This will undermine the integrity of your handbook. Is there ambiguous language? Or implied circumstances? If so, you are opening the door to interpretation because it can go a million different ways.

Therefore, the time to review your employee handbook for ambiguous language. Leave no stone unturned or unedited. When employees have a leveraging point, there is room for dispute. Your employee handbook should contain equitable policies. Specifically, those that define interactions between management, employees, and company. Make sure your policies are equitable and, just as importantly, that everyone follows them. Indeed, if a manager shows favoritism it undermines the handbook.

Are you taking advantage of cloud access for your employee handbook? If not, this is a perfect time to start. Cloud-based staff handbooks are easy to access, and available with any mobile device. Plus, you can update them in real time as needed. Your employees should always be able to review updated job roles. Each job role should include responsibilities and expectations.

In a cloud-based system, you can give access as needed. As earlier mentioned, staff handbooks set expectations for employees as to what an employer expects or might do in each situation. They also set expectations regarding the quality of work product, benefits, entitlement etc. Setting these expectations for employees through a staff handbook will allow them to hit the ground running when they join your organisation, leading to higher productivity and better work performance.

Having a standard staff handbook ensures that all employees are held to the same standard across the board. Please note that this is just a general summary of the position under common law and does not constitute legal advice.

As the laws of each jurisdiction may be different, you may want to speak to your lawyer. DocPro Legal is a team of legal professionals with a passion for making quality documents and legal contract templates widely available to the public through cutting edge technology.

We have experience in major law firms and international banks with expertise in business, commercial, finance, banking, litigation, family, succession and company laws. Not the right document? Date published: 13 Nov by DocPro Legal. Last Update: 28 Jun Related Resources.

With Templates. The policies and procedures that employers should include in a staff handbook include the following: Disciplinary procedure Grievance procedure Sick leave policy Pension arrangements Health and Safety Statement Bribery, Corruption, Embezzlement Policy Equal employment opportunity Day-to-day working arrangements Social media policy Benefits Data policy Leave entitlements General organisational information We will be covering everything you will need to know about staff handbooks below.

What is a staff handbook? What should I include in a staff handbook? Policies and procedures employers are legally obliged to include There are five policies and procedures that employers are legally obliged to include in their staff handbooks in most common law jurisdictions: i Disciplinary Procedure Staff handbooks must include disciplinary procedures. The following is an example of such a general outline: "Depending on the severity of the offence, the Company will follow the disciplinary process outlined below: Verbal Warning Written Warning Final Written Warning Termination While the Company will generally take disciplinary action in a progressive manner, it reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to decide whether and what disciplinary action will be taken in a given situation.

That might look something like this: "Responsibilities of employees when posting on social media include: Know and follow the rules Be courteous and respectful Be honest and accurate" It should also outline what disciplinary action may be taken if the conduct is inappropriate. Employers should also make sure to include the following disclaimers in their staff handbooks i That handbooks are not contracts As mentioned above, staff handbooks are not formal contracts, meaning that they are not legally binding.

An exemplar disclaimer to this effect is as follows: "Nothing in this Manual provides any entitlement to me or to any Company employee, nor is it intended to create contractual obligations of any kind. Publishing your staff handbook After creating a staff handbook, employers should ensure that it is circulated amongst employees.

How are staff handbooks different from employment contracts? Do you need a staff handbook? Why should you have a staff handbook? Practical reasons include: a Less burden on your human resources department By stating important information such as its mission, values, purpose, and policies and procedures, a staff handbook answers many of the obvious questions employees often have when they begin work.

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Employee Handbook Meaning ,. Some companies offer software or templates that can be a good start to step you through the process. But policies may vary from state to state.

If you are unsure which policies are required by law, you should check with human resources organizations or your employment attorney. Many state labor departments also have listings on their websites for employers about laws they must abide by when doing business in the state and these can be helpful in determining what to include in an employee handbook.

Among other laws that might require inclusion in employee handbooks are policies regarding accommodation of disabilities, policies on military leave, policies on breast-feeding accommodation, and crime victims leave policies.

Before you write your employee handbook, you also should take the time to determine what is important to you as a business. Do you care about how your employees appear when they are at work? Do you want them to refrain from text messaging while on the job? Do you care if they blog about the company? If the issue is important to you, and you have expectations for employees' behavior, you should address it in a policy. If you write a policy, be prepared to enforce the policy -- whether it is a policy setting limits or a policy supporting goals.

You need to have your handbook be a true reflection of your business. You also need to decide what tone you want your handbook to take. Many handbooks are written from the negative "shall not" perspective.

Some of the most effective manuals, however, are those written from a positive perspective. Company History. While not required, a brief section discussing the company's history and its mission can help set the tone for an employee handbook.

Rowson says this section can include discussions of a company mission statement, what is its reason for being, who are its customers, what is its position in the marketplace, etc. Paid Time-Off Policy. This section spells out the company's vacation policy, such as how vacation time is earned, and how to schedule time off.

It should also spell out which holidays the company observes, including which holidays the company closes for and, if the company is a restaurant or other business that stays open on holidays, how employees will be compensated for working the holiday. You may also want to address sick leave, family medical leave, and other types of leave, such as military spousal leave.

Employee Behavior. Under this heading, you can discuss the attendance policy, meal breaks and rest periods, and general expectations of employee conduct. It is important for employers to try to understand the reason for employee resistance in order to overcome it before it becomes a significant obstacle.

It is important for the employer to consider whether or not the change requires agreement. A non-contractual benefit may be modified or withdrawn at any time, but if it is a contractual policy that is being changed agreement will be necessary. Certain changes may be said to fall within managerial prerogative such as methods of working.

However, if the employer wishes to make a change to a term such as duties or pay, there must be a consensual variation. Problems can arise if an employee at the outset believes that the change is detrimental.

In addition, the variation will not be considered to be consensual or legally binding if the employer threatens the employee with dismissal in order to obtain his or her agreement to the change. Changes to existing terms of employment that are adverse to the employee are usually made by:. Where there is termination with notice and an offer of a new contract, the employer is exposed to a potential claim for unfair dismissal. Possible fair reasons to defeat a claim would be where there is a genuine redundancy situation or where the dismissal was for some other substantial reason.

An employee will need to have one year's service to make an unfair dismissal claim. Employers may believe that employment contracts are drafted widely enough to be construed as covering the proposed changes. However, an express term in the employment contract that provides for variation can be limited by the implied term of preserving trust and confidence.

Therefore, even if there is an apparent right to vary the terms, employers should give employees reasonable notice together with adequate consultation. Employers should not presume implied agreement nor that employees' silence amounts to their consent to a variation; a small bonus or salary increase may be offered in the hope that they will accept the change. A unilateral change to terms and conditions of employment made by an employer without the employee's agreement will normally be a breach of contract.

As a result, civil courts will have jurisdiction as well as or instead of an employment tribunal. This is important as courts have greater powers than tribunals to award compensation in such cases and legal aid may be available in the civil courts but other than in exceptional cases in Scotland is not available in tribunal cases. Employers often need to introduce changes to terms and conditions due to business needs. Where an employee does not consent but the change is essential, an employer may either impose new terms as a fait accompli or terminate the contract and offer employment on new terms and conditions.

There have been cases where the latter method has been implemented and shown to be fair. The employer wished to change its employees' contracts to introduce a shift system to include evening work. Mr Richardson refused to agree to the variation unless he was paid overtime for the evening work.

After a seven-month stand-off, he challenged his employer either to dismiss him or to stop insisting on the revised shift pattern. Mr Richardson was promptly dismissed. The employment tribunal held that the employer had not demonstrated some other substantial reason for the dismissal, as it had not shown discernible advantages by imposing the contract variation.

However, the EAT held that this was the wrong approach and that the correct test was to ask if the employer reasonably believed or concluded that the variation in the contract had advantages. According to the EAT, provided that the reason given was not "whimsical, unworthy or trivial", the employer would have succeeded in establishing some other substantial reason.

It should be noted that the EAT remitted the case to a differently constituted employment tribunal to decide whether or not the dismissal was fair under s. This involves weighing up the detriment to the employee of introducing the change against the detriment to the employer's business of not implementing the change.

While it is clearly better to make any changes to employees' terms with their consent, Richardson shows that, where an employee refuses a change, dismissing him or her for that reason will not necessarily be unfair. Once a sound business reason is shown for making changes, a reasonable employer must consult with its employees regarding the proposed changes.

Any dismissal action should be instigated only after consultation. By adopting this approach, employers should be able to defend any subsequent unfair dismissal claims. The Court of Appeal found that, while there are circumstances where it may be reasonable to dismiss employees for refusing to accept new employment contracts containing restrictive covenants that are reasonable in all the circumstances of a particular case, in Willow the restrictive covenants were badly drafted and incomprehensible in parts.

They were much broader in scope than could be considered reasonable in all the circumstances, and were so hastily introduced that the employees had little time - in some cases no more than 30 minutes - to consider whether or not to accept them.

Moreover, the employees were not warned that they might face dismissal if they refused to agree to them. On that last point, in giving the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Buxton said that "that there had been no warning that failure to agree to the new terms would or might result in dismissal In deciding if dismissals in such circumstances are fair, the tribunal has to consider whether or not there was a fair reason in law for the dismissals and, if so, whether or not the employer acted reasonably.

The Willow decision confirms that a dismissal for refusing to accept changes to terms can be fair. Whether or not the changes are reasonable is relevant in deciding fairness.

However, no matter how reasonable the proposed changes, employees must be consulted properly and treated with respect, as this decision demonstrates. She works with some of the leading UK employers providing coaching, training and consultancy services in all areas of HR and people management.

She is also an employee relations and employment law lecturer and a member of the employment tribunal judiciary. Welcome back, let us show you around. Discover the power of our expert insight, trusted resources, data analysis and practical tools today. The materials and information included in the XpertHR service are provided for reference purposes only.

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