What Should be in an Employee Handbook?

employee handbooks

You need an employee handbook to communicate your HR policies to employees. It’s an essential document that all employees should receive on commencement of their employment, during induction.

All employees should receive an induction or training in the company’s employee policies and sign an acknowledgment form agreeing to abide by their contents.

Certain policies must be provided to employee’s within a month of commencement.

 

Our handbook provides policies on:

  • Parental leave
  • Force majeure leave
  • Carers leave
  • Bereavement leave
  • Funeral leave
  • Compassionate leave
  • Wedding leave
  • Special leave / unpaid leave
  • Jury leave
  • Probation
  • Grievance
  • Disciplinary and dismissal
  • Bullying & harassment / respect & dignity at work
  • Drugs and alcohol / misuse of substances / testing for intoxicants
  • Workplace Practices
    • Dress code, uniforms, personal grooming and hygiene
    • Office phone and mobile phone use
    • Internet, email and social media use
    • IT use
  • Attendance
    • Breaks and rest periods
    • Sick leave / sick pay
    • Punctuality / timekeeping
    • Unauthorised absence
    • Timesheets
    • Clock-in and clock-out
  • Vehicles and company property
    • Use of company vehicles
    • Use of own vehicles for work
    • Use of company property
  • Overtime
  • Time-off-in-lieu
  • Flexible Arrangements and Off-Site Working
    • Working from home
    • Lone working
    • Flexitime / Flexi Hours
  • Equality
  • Data protection
  • Use of CCTV

The ‘Use of CCTV’ policy is a must if the employer is likely to use CCTV footage in event of a disciplinary situation e.g. theft of money, employees caught on camera fighting, etc. 

Additional Policies

A host of additional policies which can be included, depending on your company’s operations, cover:

  • Garda clearance
  • Recruitment and Selection
  • Induction
  • Performance management
  • Performance bonuses
  • References
  • Exit Interviews

and many more…

In the current world of social media, blogging, internet and email use, a robust policy in this area is very much required. 

How We Can Help You?

We provide employers with support and advice, by phone, email and on-site, for all employment law and HR matters. 

Next Steps

If you are an employer and have any questions, please contact your CollierBroderick HR Advisor, call us on 01 8666426contact us, or email us on enquiries@collierbroderick.ie.