Pros and Cons of a Handbook

The employee handbook is a valuable tool for many companies that have grown to a size where they feel they are not getting the correct information across to there employees or potential employees face to face (“Creating an Effective”1). Companies usually feel the need to have an employee handbook when they have grown to a size of over twenty employees (“Creating an Effective”1). As for many company decisions, you should look at the pros and cons associated with that information or decision. When it comes to employee handbooks the determination to have one or what to put in one has to do with the legal ramifications it may create.

There are some obvious and some not so obvious pros to having a handbook. The handbook is a wonderful tool to indoctrinate new employees to the company and its policies. It will inform them of the company policies and what will be expected of them when they start their employment with the company. This ensures a smooth transition for the potential employee’s new environment (“Creating an Effective”1). The smother the transition the happier the employee will be. This will allow the employee to absorb more information during the learning and training period.

When a potentially new employee sees that the company has set policies to govern what is expected and guidelines for behavior and policies it will attract a higher caliber of applicants than a company that has no manual in place (“Creating an Effective”1). It also helps to documents an employee’s expectations to help with promotions and raises (“Creating an Effective”1). It ensures employees are aware of the employers expectations when it comes to such policies as dress cods, vacation and sick time, etc. (“Written Employment”2).

The up front approach to the potential employee with the policies and what is expected may in the long term avoid future disagreements and legal issues that may arise.

By having the information in front of them when they start, makes the rules of the company very clear. This leaves very little “gray area” for disagreement if a person decides to go astray from those items in writing. This is why many companies feel it is a good practice to have the employee sign the handbook as acknowledgement that they have received the policies of the company and will follow them (Fleischner32). It also supports the acknowledgment that the employee understands, as mentioned earlier, this is “employment at will” only, and no contractual agreement has been made.

The handbook is also a good tool to boost the companies standing with the local community by inputting positive information about such policies as environmental and safety. The local government and community gets the sense of caring and responsibility the company has for the community they reside in.

On the flip side there are several cons to consider before creating the employee handbook. First and foremost, the legal ramifications that could occur by having set policies in writing (“Creating an Effective”2). These can be used against a company if the company tends to not follow there own policies buy such ways as favoring one employee over another which goes against the employee handbook. The subsequent legal action and employee can use the handbook as a document in court. Many states view the handbook as a form of “employee contract” (“Creating an Effective”1).

Having an employee handbook can make it difficult to change policy quickly at times due to the time and cost to update the employee manuals and also to get the word out to existing employees.

Since employers are responsible for preparing the handbook, many courts find any vague interpretation to favor the employee (“Creating an Effective”2).