Employers should establish firm company policies to prevent and protect against workplace lawsuits. There are some critical policies that are important to establish and that would definitely help prevent and protect against lawsuits, such as:
- anti-harassment policies;
- appropriate conduct policies;
- drug-free workplace policies and
- equal employment opportunity policies.
Employee Procedure Manuals Vs Employee Policy Handbooks
A common mistake I often see when working with companies is differentiating between an employee handbook versus an employee procedures manual.
An employee handbook is written for employees and it’s usually a straight-forward way for them to easily reference the company policies that apply to them. Usually the employee handbook is a vehicle for familiarizing employees with their company’s core policies.
The procedures manual, on the other hand, is a more comprehensive text that can detail how daily operational processes and procedures should be handled. This type of manual is basically a reference tool for managers and supervisors, primarily, which is why it usually contains more detailed information on operational processes to follow.
I think this is one area where companies often get confused and think they have to include operational process information in their employee handbook when they don’t.
For example, the employee handbook would include a policy that addresses things such as:
- how vacation is accrued;
- when and how vacation can be requested and
- if vacation is paid upon termination.
Whereas the employee procedures manual might include a detailed description of the company’s financial policies, including billing and collections, charge entries, posting of payments, handling of cash, bank deposits, daily and monthly reconciliation, etc.
An employee procedures manual could be several hundred pages long, where the employee handbook is usually much smaller in terms of length.
In my next Insight, I’ll explain how to establish firm company policies using the procedures manual, as well as the employee handbook.