Crafting an Effective Employee Handbook: Essential Policies for Your Business
What Should be Included in an Employment Handbook?There is no legal requirement mandating written employment policies or an employee handbook. Typically, these documents do not hold the force of a contract. The legal relationship between your company and your employees is primarily defined by the at-will employment relationship or specific offer letters or contracts you provided to the employee.
However, employee handbooks serve several valuable purposes. They act as a resource for communicating rules and expectations to employees, helping to reduce confusion regarding matters like vacation accrual, attendance, dress code, and other essential expectations. When done correctly, they also provide a layer of risk protection for your company. Employment Policies You Should Include in the HandbookThe following policies should find a place in your employment handbook, as they can shield your company from liability under specific employment laws:
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Employment Handbooks: Other Optional Provisions
Some additional provisions are often included in employee handbooks:
- Introduction/company mission statement: While not legally significant, this section allows you to welcome new employees and convey messages about the company's mission, vision, and culture.
- Employee classifications: Some handbooks define different employee classifications (e.g., full-time, part-time, exempt vs. non-exempt). However, be cautious to avoid conflicting with overtime laws, especially for exempt vs. non-exempt status.
- Probationary or introductory period: This clarifies the expectation that employment will continue based on an employee's performance during a specific period.
- Telecommuting: In the era of remote work, clear expectations for remote work arrangements can be valuable.
- Standards of conduct and code of conduct: While useful for setting expectations, ensure flexibility to address unforeseen behavior issues.
- Dress code / personal appearance: Include this if necessary, but be mindful of potential discrimination concerns.
- Anti-nepotism/fraternization: Consider including these policies to address conflicts of interest or romantic relationships within the workplace.
- Conflicts of interest / outside employment / off-duty conduct: Prevent conflicts with activities that interfere with job performance or company operations.
- Non-disclosure/confidentiality: Emphasize the importance of protecting company confidential information.
- Workplace bullying: Use caution, as workplace bullying isn't against the law in most cases.
- Benefits: Summarize the benefits you offer and direct employees to specific plan documents for details.
- Travel and expense reporting/reimbursement: Describe reimbursable expenses, submission procedures, and required documentation.
- Use of employer equipment/vehicles: Notify employees that company equipment and supplies belong to the employer.
- Performance evaluations: Include this policy only if you conduct regular performance evaluations.
Meet Our Employment Lawyers
Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years before starting the firm that became slnlaw in 2009. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, and helped thousands of clients on both the employee and employer side with severance and non compete review and negotiation, wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, and advice about employment law generally.
Rebecca Rogers: Rebecca is a 2006 graduate of Boston College Law School, and has worked with slnlaw since 2013. She previously worked as an intellectual property litigation attorney for Fish & Richardson in Boston, Massachusetts, and clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Rebecca has helped clients with wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of severance and non compete agreements, and advice to both employees and employers about navigating complex employment situations.
Jenna Ordway: Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac Law School, and also earned an LLM in Taxation from Boston University in 2015. She has been affiliated with slnlaw since 2011, first as a law clerk and then as an attorney. Jenna has been recognized since 2019 as a "Rising Star" by Massachusetts Superlawyers. Jenna has helped clients with review and negotiation of severance and non compete agreements, wage and hour disputes, employment and discrimination claims, and advice to small business owners about employment law and other business matters.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has helped clients on the employee and employer side with all varieties of employment law issues, including employment discrimination, retaliation, and wage and hour issues, litigation in MCAD and state and federal courts, and advising employers about employment policies and practices.
Sharleen Tinnin: Sharleen is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and has been with slnlaw since 2023. Prior to joining slnlaw, she worked with King, Tilden, McEttrick & Brink, P.C. on complex civil litigation matters. She previously worked for the United States Department of Justice, and received an "Excellence in Justice" award in 2017. Sharleen has helped clients with wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, review and negotiation of severance agreements, and litigation in MCAD and state and federal courts on employment related issues.
How We Can Help
We can help you review an employment handbook to determine whether it is covered all of the issues relevant to your business, or create a handbook for you if you do not have one. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
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