Do I need an employee handbook?

Posted 6 years ago

It is a legal requirement for employers to give every employee a written statement of particulars of employment, but also having an employee handbook gives your organisation an opportunity to explain what you expect from your staff.

Having an employee handbook is a way of passing on important information about your organisation and how it works on a day-to-day basis to your employees. It’s also a handy place to keep forms for sickness, requesting holidays, claiming expenses and other occasions.

The handbook can be printed and a copy given to each employee. Alternatively, for a more environmentally friendly approach, it can be put online so that all staff can use it. This can be done by sharing a Google document with all employees, or it can be put on your intranet.

There are some policies and procedures that you have to give employees by law and a staff handbook is a good place to put them. They are:

your organisation’s health & safety policy;
disciplinary rules and procedure;
grievance procedure.

It also gives you an opportunity to include guidance for employees about dress code, smoking and your absence policy.

It is important to keep the handbook up to date, and it is recommended to review it once a year and updating it to take account of changes in the law.

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