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What information should my company include in its Employee Handbook?

Home » Human Resources » Employee Handbooks » What information should my company include in its Employee Handbook?

As mentioned earlier, the topics in an employee handbook should be, to some degree, job-specific, but the below are some basic areas you will almost certainly want to include:


  • Company mission statement/vision: It is a good idea to make one of the first things an employee sees from your company a concise statement of the company’s goals and purposes.
  • Use of company equipment: Whether your company uses automobiles, enormous mechanical equipment, or simply computers and copy machines, it is important that your employees know the policy on using this equipment. What guidelines should they follow in using the equipment? Will they be trained in proper use? Can they use equipment for personal use?
  • Time off: Outline the company’s policy on vacation and sick time. How much time off does an employee receive and when does he receive it? How should an employee request time off? What happens if he does not use all of his allotted time? You might also want to discuss other kinds of time off such as personal days, jury duty, military leave, and holidays.
  • Discipline: After outlining actions that would be cause for discipline, summarize the ways in which the company will discipline an employee. Avoid being either too vague or too specific, and give an idea on what could result in termination.
  • Harassment: State clearly that sexual harassment (as well as any other kind of harassment) is strictly prohibited. In addition, though, it is important that employees understand a grievance procedure for reporting harassment charges.

These five areas are included in nearly all employee handbooks, but you may also want to discuss:

  • Definition of terms
  • Visitors to the workplace
  • Salary terms and pay procedures
  • Standard work week and overtime policies
  • Safety on the job
  • Drug, alcohol, and tobacco policy
  • Confidentiality
  • Employee performance reviews
  • Office conduct
  • Timekeeping
  • Any additional workplace rules

As you can see, there is a wide range of potential topics for inclusion in an employee handbook. Allow yourself some flexibility by including a disclaimer in the handbook stating that the company may amend the handbook in the future and that the handbook is neither an exhaustive company policy list nor an employee contract.



Next Page: What information do I need to tell the employees outside of the Employee Handbook?

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