Despite the numerous templates and samples for employee handbooks on the market, promising fast and spectacular results, it still takes time to create a good one. Developing a handbook that is thorough, easy to read, fits your organization and is legally sound doesn’t happen overnight. Then after the creation of your new employee handbook comes the maintenance. New legal precedents, new regulations, and new technology roll along.

That’s why a lot of business owners and human resource managers cringe with the mention of this subject. Employers know they will spend time creating it, or paying a consultant or attorney to do it, distribute it to employees, and then those employees most likely won’t read it anyway.

That is, until they leave their employment and review it with an attorney they’ve hired to sue that same, but now former, employer. Yes, that sounds jaded and cynical, but I think it’s true. Time after time when I research the latest wisdom on employee handbooks, the focus is inevitably on how the handbook will look to an attorney looking to file a suit against the business, or how a jury will perceive it. Seems like a shame.

Don’t stress about your employee handbook. Ask HR Advocate for guidance to create a focused, nimble and effective employee handbook.