January 2007 SBH Quarterly Newsletter
PDF FormatA New Year, A Better Workplace
Employers use employee handbooks as a reference, to create a sense of
unity, to instruct new employees, or to lay a legal framework for employment
actions. If you go to the time and expense of creating a handbook, it should
be used to its fullest potential. A yearly review of your employee policies
and/or handbooks is recommended to ensure optimum benefit. What better time
than the start of a new year?
During review of an existing handbook or policy, check for legal changes,
inaccurate contact information, and benefits or workplace rules that have
become obsolete or need to be added.
All handbooks at the minimum must have the following: (1) Family Medical
Leave Act (FMLA) / Oregon Family Leave Act (OFLA) policy; (2) Harassment
policy and reporting procedure; and (3) At will provision stating the
handbook is not a contract for employment.
Several other policies may also be important in your workplace, such as a
light duty policy, drug testing policy, internet and email usage policy, or
cell phone policy.
Don’t stop with reviewing your handbook. If you make any changes or
additions to policies, take two more steps to ensure your handbook works for
you. First, provide all employees with new or revised policies and have them
acknowledge in writing that they have reviewed the new policies. Second,
train supervisors in any changes to procedures that they will be
implementing (give them a refresher on other policies at the same time).
Unless new policies are known and consistently applied, the time you spend
on your handbook will be undermined.