What is Employment Handbook Drafting?
An employment handbook is a document containing guidelines for how employees should work and behave in an organization. It has to be comprehensive, providing company policies and a code of conduct.
There’s lots of information to include in an employment handbook. If you need to draft one, here are some tips to bear in mind.
Read the rest of this article for key terms to include in an employment handbook, how to draft it, and how a lawyer will help you with the drafting process.
What are Key Terms in an Employment Handbook?
An employment handbook should provide clarity on the following terms:
- Company mission statement. To provide a bigger picture, or the reason for the employment handbook being drafted, explain the company’s mission and goals.
- Code of conduct. Provide rules for how employees are expected to carry themselves and behave in the workplace. This should include dress code and safety guidelines.
- Working hours. Specify the working hours employees are expected to work.
- Duties. Explain the employees’ roles in the company.
- Benefits. What benefits employees can gain and when they’re eligible to receive them must be clarified.
- Compensation. Without providing personal information such as salary amounts for different employees, the handbook must mention general payment frequency and methods.
What are Tips for Drafting an Employment Handbook?
Drafting an employment handbook requires specific details. Here are some tips to bear in mind.
Provide Company Values
It helps to include a section explaining your company’s mission and values. This serves to provide context for the guidelines employees must follow.
Include a Code of Conduct
Make sure that your employment handbook contains a code of conduct to provide clarity for employees regarding how they should behave in the workplace.
This should outline various aspects of employment, such as conditions under which employees can use their personal phones, how they should dress, and other policies.
Clarify Payments
While your employment handbook shouldn't mention specific employee salaries, it should provide clarity for employees on how and when they will be paid. You should also discuss what benefits they stand to gain and include eligibility criteria to prevent ambiguity.
Keep it Accessible
Since an employment handbook will be accessed by all employees in your company, you want to make sure it’s written in clear, simple language that doesn’t create confusion.
Align it with Relevant Laws
You must make sure that your employment handbook is aligned with all relevant federal, state, and local laws to prevent compliance issues. A qualified lawyer can help you with this aspect of drafting an employment handbook to give you peace of mind.
Do You Need a Lawyer for Employment Handbook Drafting?
Although you can draft your employment handbook yourself without seeking legal guidance, it can benefit you to hire a lawyer for employment handbook drafting. This will ensure your document is clear, aligned with all relevant laws, and specific to prevent disputes.
A lawyer can conduct various activities during the drafting process to help you, such as:
- Reviewing all relevant laws. They’ll not only check state, federal, and local laws, but also the relevant labor legislation and legal requirements that apply to the agreement.
- Drafting clear workplace policies. A lawyer will prepare clear, detailed policies that cover aspects such as working hours, overtime rules, and more.
- Developing disciplinary processes. They’ll make sure they include fair procedures for handling poor performance, warnings, misconduct, and employee dismissal.
- Explaining leave policies. They’ll check that family leave, parental leave, and other types of time off are legally sound and reasonable.
- Providing health and safety guidelines. They’ll ensure the workplace is safe and healthy, such as by including incident reporting procedures for employees to follow.
- Considering parties’ responsibilities. A lawyer will draft clear workplace expectations and prevent the handbook’s rules from restricting employee rights.
- Aligning the employment handbook with other contracts. They’ll check that the employment handbook’s content matches other business contracts and policies to prevent confusion or disputes.
- Reviewing the document. If you’ve drafted an employment handbook, you can hire a qualified, experienced lawyer to review all its sections and give you peace of mind that it’s clear, balanced, and legally sound.
Where to Find and Hire a Lawyer for Employment Handbook Drafting
If you need to hire a lawyer to draft your employment handbook, you should consult one on an online legal platform. These platforms make it easier to find a lawyer who can help you draft the document than reaching out to traditional law firms.
ContractsCounsel is one of the largest online legal marketplaces that gives you access to a network of lawyers, all of whom have been vetted on the platform. By providing transparent information about lawyers on its platform, ContractsCounsel makes it convenient to hire a lawyer who matches your requirements.
If you need to ask a lawyer on the platform to draft your employment handbook, here are the easy steps to follow:
- Go to the ContractsCounsel marketplace.
- Select ‘One-time project’ and ‘Create or update contract.’ Alternatively, you could choose ‘Contract review’ for a lawyer to provide a thorough review of your agreement.
- Post your project, or request, for free. Include some details to help you match with the most suitable lawyers.
- Wait for bids. Lawyers on the platform will send you multiple bids to work on your project. They’re ready to draft your contract for you.
- Review the platform’s lawyer data. This includes the lawyers’ credentials, years of experience, field of expertise, and client ratings for previous projects they completed on the platform.
- Select a lawyer. Hire them to draft your employment handbook for a flat fee.