An employee handbook is a small book or booklet that is handed over to new employees joining the company. Its intention is to convey knowledge to those employees as well as act as a reference for them later on.
Benefits
Use an employee handbook to get your new employees up to speed with their work. An employee handbook can make employees become comfortable with their new work environment more quickly. It can also help reduce future problems caused by lack of knowledge on the side of the employee. Moreover, an employee handbook can be an opportunity for the employer to raise the spirits of his staff and increase their motivation by presenting a strong positive image of the company in it.
Content
Include some or all of the following information in an employee handbook:
- History of the company, how it all started, its founder(s), a timeline of its development and its achievements so far.
- Mission statement of the company, its vision and its goals.
- Factual information about the company such as its size, branches (if any), number of employees, size of business, fields of business, overview of its products and services, major clients ... etc.
- A sketch of the organization chart of the company.
- Overview about different departments of the company and brief info about department heads.
- A summary of the important points in the policies and procedures of the company and rules governing employee conduct.
- An overview of the work environment, how to get things done, how to communicate with other departments and the role of each department.
- Employee benefits and rights, social activities and services the company offers to its employees.
- Where to go to and what to do in case of facing a problem or getting into trouble.
Designing an attractive, balanced and complete handbook for employees is key to better performance in a shorter period of time. In addition to delivering a printed copy of the employee handbook to each new employee, an online version can be maintained on the company intranet for easy access by employees and for easy update by the HR department. Write the employee handbook in the local language of the employees or make it bilingual.