Writing An Employee Handbook That Communicates Your Company Culture From The Start
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
We all know that recruiting excellent talent into your business is one of the keys to building a productive and engaged workforce. But the growth does not stop once the contracts are signed. In fact, the first few weeks of an employee’s time at your business are the most important time to focus on setting them on a trajectory for success within the organisation.
It is important in this stage to provide an employee handbook that covers everyone and is not role-specific, including how-tos about navigating the business. Read on for our tips on how to put together a clear and concise employee handbook that is engaging and useful.
Internal Research: start by asking your current employees what they wish they knew on their first day in the role. This will help uncover things across the business that you may not think of, and also provides an opportunity to engage all employees in the process so they feel included.
Organised Format: Ensure all of the less exciting but important things are listed in an easy to reference table such as the phone numbers or emails of different departments employees may need to contact.
Early Communication: Ensure the fundamentals, such as payroll and insurance enrolment processes are spelled out clearly in the first week. It’s important to do the employee data capture in the first week of onboarding to avoid any hiccups in these areas.
Provide Resources: Don’t forget about employee safety and wellbeing and ensuring they understand where they can go to discuss any issues.
Streamline Where Possible: Don’t try and put too much information in - a huge welcome pack can be overwhelming! It is a great idea to instead list where more information can be found about other important topics so they can be researched if required at a later date.
If you need to update your employee handbook or you need to start one, get in touch with our team at Accela Talent to learn more about our available outsourced HR services here: [email protected]. From a standard handbook to a more customised version, our talented team can work with you to find the best solution for your business.