You won’t find it on a best-seller list, and it may not offer a respite from a busy world. Nevertheless, if you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, you’ll want to read your company’s employee handbook.
If you’ve already read it, and it’s been a while, you’ll want to read it again.
Here’s why.
Official Resource
The employee handbook is the company’s official communication resource.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) notes that a handbook usually includes information about the company’s history, mission, and values.
It also includes policies, procedures, and benefits information. In addition, the handbook provides an overview of management’s expectations.
That’s a lot of information—and all of it has relevance for recruiting and hiring.
Info Elsewhere
What if your company’s history, mission, and values are already at your website?
Information in the handbook may be positioned differently—and you’ll want to know this because the handbook is the official resource. Besides, a job candidate may not have visited those pages at your site.
Benefits information too may be mentioned at your website. Most likely, however, the site provides an overview. The handbook includes specifics, like any waiting period before an employee is eligible for health insurance. This is an example of the details job candidates want to know.
Policies and Procedures
A common misperception is that policies and procedures don’t matter to job candidates. Depending on the position, the person may care a great deal about certain policies and procedures.
A salesperson or other individual who travels frequently for business will want to know about travel policies and procedures. For example, does the company reimburse for travel or provide an advance? This could make a difference to some candidates.
Or, if the job requires international travel, does the company allow for business class seating on flights? Although business class seating may seem like a perk, for some frequent fliers it is a necessity.
One senior executive, who travels approximately 70 percent of the time for business, often internationally, was accustomed to business class, but when he changed companies, the new company required employees to fly coach. This became a source of dissatisfaction for him.
It’s About Them
A company policy or procedure, or other detail in the handbook, may not seem all that significant, until it affects an employee personally.
With this in mind, review your company’s employee handbook with an eye toward the positions for which you recruit—and what the candidates for those positions may want or need to know, before they make a decision to work for your company.
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Paula Santonocito, Contributing Editor for Recruiting Daily Advisor, is a business journalist specializing in employment issues. She is the author of more than 1,000 articles on a wide range of human resource and career topics, with an emphasis on recruiting and hiring. Her articles have been featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets, referenced in academic and legal publications as well as books, and translated into several languages. |