3 elements of an effective employment handbook

Employment handbooks should protect employers. “An employee handbook provides communication; it helps you to comply with the law; [and] it provides consistency – it allows you to treat all employees in a consistent manner.” Andrea Paris explained in a recent CER webinar: These are the 3 C’s of an effective employment handbook: communication, compliance, and consistency.

Effective Employment Handbooks: Achieving the 3 C’s

The purpose of the employee handbook is to communicate, to comply, and to provide consistency. Drafting a well-written employment handbook requires employers to get the balance “just right.” It shouldn’t be too soft, such as not providing enough clarity and details on important procedures such as reporting sexual harassment or making requests for accommodation.

It likewise shouldn’t be too hard, such as providing too much detail that binds the employer to duties the law does not require and creates additional expectations and inadvertent liability. It should be just right: the employment handbook should walk the line of complying with the law and effectively communicating expectations, while still giving the employer the flexibility to make changes as necessary.

“The second way to achieve the 3 C’s is to communicate the handbook. You can have a perfect employee handbook that complies with the law, has wonderful procedures, is extremely clear and understandable—but if you don’t deliver the handbook and updates to employees, ensure that the employees read it, [ensure they] are familiar with the procedures, and have proof of receipt or that the employees received training and understanding of the handbook, [then] the money and time that you spent on drafting the handbook is absolutely wasted.” Paris explained.

The last way to achieve the 3 C’s is to actually follow the handbook. Train your managers and decisionmakers on what the procedures and rules are in the employment handbook. Make sure they know to involve HR in decisions related to employees. Always refer to the handbook first when issues arise.

The above information is excerpted from the CER webinar titled “Employee Handbooks in California: How to Reduce Your Legal Risks and Improve Internal Communication.” To register for a future webinar, visit CER webinars.

Attorney Andrea Paris is based in Orange County and specializes in all areas of human resources law, including employee handbooks, wage and hour, discrimination, and sexual harassment. Ms. Paris provides advice and counsel to California employers on ways to manage risk related to employment issues and she defends employers in claims and lawsuits in the areas of wage and hour and discrimination. (www.andreaparislaw.com)