Check your employee handbook policies and procedures

As many employees will be celebrating Pride Month, it’s a reminder to employers to review whether their policies, procedures and practices create a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment that allows their organisation to recognise the brilliance of each person and foster a happy and productive culture.  

The structure of your handbook will be the basis for providing administrative, employment and operational-related communications and information that your employees will need to know.

What policies should be in an employee handbook?

An employee policy handbook is designed to answer employee questions and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

A well-written handbook can provide clarity of the working relationship and set down the employer’s expectations within the workplace.

The employee handbook policies and procedures are an extremely useful tool to communicate all sorts of company information, and having one brings many benefits.

In a recent employment survey looking into publishing HR policies, it was found that employee handbooks are the best way to ensure that employees read and understand their company’s policies and procedures and know where to go for ease of reference when they need to look something up.

Whether HR policies are best contained in a staff handbook or not is up for debate. Most businesses believe that handbooks are: "An important must-have for any organisation in order for an employee to know what is expected of them and what they may be entitled to.”

Accessibility for all

The key is ensuring that the policies and procedures are accessible to all, designed to suit the organisation and presented in a user-friendly style.

This can mean having virtual handbooks, handbooks located on the intranet or presented in hard copy. What to include will range from the general practical and administrative issues, recruitment, onboarding and probation, employee wellbeing, family friendly, health & safety, discipline, grievance and performance management and measures taken to protect the business.

Keeping on top of a myriad of HR policies can be a challenge, but as HR professionals, it is what we do! At SOS-HR, we draft, review and update the employee handbook policies and procedures, as well as ensure that those who read them understand them.  

For more information on a new company staff handbook or to review your company staff handbook to check if yours is fit for purpose, please contact SOS-HR on 01473 276170 or email us at info@sos-hr.co.uk