The Dos and Don’ts of Creating Effective Employee Handbooks

Lori Cole (00:03):

Well, we’ve got, this is just a packed full agenda today, so I’m going to go ahead and get started. Thank you for being here. My name is Lori Cole and I am a certified career coach and content creator here at iHire. I want to offer you a welcome to today’s session, the Dos and Don’ts of Creating Effective Employee Handbooks. So before we get started, I’d like to point out a few more features of the webinar platform that will really put you in the driver’s seat, the widgets that you see on your screen, those windows, you can move those around, resize those explore content related to today’s presentation. Explore the bios of our presenters, make sure that you find that, ask a question widget and submit your questions at any time during the presentation. Only our producers will see those questions and we’ll answer as many as we can after the webinar. Excuse me. Also, keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for a recording of this webinar. And lastly, just a quick reminder that you will earn one credit today for SH RM and HRCI recertification and we will prompt you at the end of the webinar so that you can download that certificate of completion. So keep an eye on that, but you have to stay until the very end of the webinar to be able to do that.

(01:34):

With that, I’d like to welcome our presenters today, Chrisanne Bowden and Vickie Krolak. So let’s start with Chrisanne. Chrisanne is iHire’s principal HR business partner and has nearly three decades of experience in human resource roles. Chrisanne currently supports small businesses that don’t have their own in-house HR and larger employers working on special projects. And I think you have some fans in the audience. Chrisanne, I just saw a couple emojis going. Welcome.

Chrisanne Bowden (02:06):

Thank you. Always a pleasure to be with you, Lori.

Lori Cole (02:09):

And then we have Vickie. Vickie is our senior HR business partner here at iHire with over two decades of experience in hr, also in accounting and office administration. She just does it all. Vickie has full lifecycle HR experience and a strong passion for employee engagement, recruitment, training and development. And she also has some fans in the crowd because I see more emojis. In addition to being a member of the National SHRM, she’s also the Mid-Florida Chapter’s president. Welcome Vickie.

Vickie Krolak (02:46):

Thank you Lori. Happy to be here today.

Lori Cole (02:48):

Well, it’s great to have you both here. Today we’re going to get started with a poll. How confident are you that your employee handbook is compliant and up to date, very confident, somewhat confident, somewhat unconfident, or very unconfident.

(03:09):

So while we’re waiting for those poll results, I want to share something that’s really an exciting new feature that we have here at iHire. It’s the candidate interview scheduling tool. Now this is included with all of your job slots at no extra cost and it really helps with the whole scheduling and interview process. You can schedule and manage all of your candidate interviews right from the iHire platform. It syncs with your calendar and your conferencing tools instantly, and candidates can pick their own time that works best for them based on the time slots that you’re available. You can set your preferences, choose interview types and how long those interviews are going to last and even add special instructions for the candidates. And the best part of this is that our clients are already seeing a 33% decrease in interview. So that’s huge. It really is a game changer and it just takes so much friction out of the hiring process. So we would encourage you to use that new tool and it’s super easy to set up. I just did it. I did a video on it and it’s very, very easy. All right, so let’s get to why we’re here today. Let’s look at these poll results.

(04:34):

All right, we’ve got some somewhat confidence, very confident. Well, no matter where you are on this list today, we are going to help you and you’re going to end up feeling very confident by the end of this that you can get this done. So let me just do a quick agenda today we’re going to cover nine essential sections. Every employee handbook needs additional areas for today’s workplace, common mistakes and compliance pitfalls to avoid and how to keep your handbook current. All right, Vickie, let’s start with you. Why is it important for every company to have a handbook?

Vickie Krolak (05:19):

Yeah, it really does play a role in today’s employee management. Employees matter even more because of the pace of a compliance, especially among the states and ever-changing local laws. It invokes workplace trends, it helps with risk mitigation. And interestingly, in my experience I’ve seen where both larger and smaller organizations may not actually have a handbook, but they have a stack of policies which can create inconsistencies and confusion among your employees. These policies can get lost in the flow, and I’ve actually had clients when I’m developing a handbook for them to incorporate in the one that I’m creating for them. The real purpose of the handbook goes beyond that compliance. However, it’s a communication tool. It sets those expectations. It aligns with your company culture and it ensures consistency on how policies are applied across your company all in one place. But there are also some common misconceptions about handbooks.

(06:19):

For example, some people feel like once you’ve written it, you can set it and forget it. In reality, this should be actually a living document that evolves as your organization and your workforce changes, and as those laws change over the years, another misconception that handbooks are confidential and can’t be discussed among your employees. In fact, the National Labor Relations Board has made it very clear that employees do have the right to discuss the handbook and working condition under federal law. And while it can be company proprietary or confidential, nothing stops them from discussing it among themselves. And while some assume that a handbook is legally binding contract, that’s not usually the case. Handbooks are not contracts and should include such language. It’s a guide, as my colleagues will tell you, it’s there to inform your employees and both the employer and the employees in how things are being practiced and how they’re being applied across the organization. At the end of the day, especially for all employees, including all new hires, it’s not just about the policies, but it’s setting that culture and the expectations.

Lori Cole (07:34):

All right, so let’s talk about the role of today’s employee handbooks. And there are nine sections that every employee handbook should have. So Chrisanne, could you get us started on those?

Chrisanne Bowden (07:50):

Sure, sure. There’s other things that your handbook’s likely to have, but I think if you’re out there taking notes or you’re going to listen to the recording again tomorrow, these are the things you absolutely you have to have when it comes to building a strong handbook. There are these core elements that your organization does need to include. We want to start with employment at will. Employment at will clarifies that either the employee or the employer can end a relationship at any time unless it’s otherwise defined like maybe a union contract or there’s a specific state law. I often hear employers say, Hey, we’re in an at will state. Well newsflash all but one state is employment at will. That does not mean that you can just terminate for cause because there is still an opportunity for people to claim wrongful termination. But you want to have that clarification in your handbook.

(08:45):

If you are in one of the 49 states that is at will that you have that at will statement next is you need equal opportunity, anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies spelled out in your handbook. These statements are not only legally required, they’re what sets the tone for a respectful, inclusive workplace. They’re what employees can refer to if they are facing something like discrimination or harassment in the workplace. I’ve, over my career had some instances where I’ve faced legal challenges or had federal government agencies come in. And I can tell you one of the first things they’re going to ask for is your handbook. They want to see that you have these policies in place, and if you don’t, it’s not going to bode well for you. It’s going to make fighting whatever allegations come your way a lot more challenging. We also want to, in our handbook, cover conflicts of interest, confidentiality, whistleblower protection, and non-retaliation clauses.

(09:53):

These policies help protect both the company and the employees. They’re setting clear expectations about things like outside employment, about the use of confidential information, avoiding situations that could create conflict. Another critical section is the employment relationship itself, like eligibility to work, are there probationary periods, the basics of how the employee-employer relationship functions. From there, I want to say you need workplace guidelines. This section outlines day-to-day expectations. So everything from dress code to use of company policy to standards of conduct. And another thing that if your handbook hasn’t been updated in the last few years, or maybe you updated it but you didn’t think of this, we need to have policies that address remote and hybrid work policies. These are pretty much now essential. They set the expectation around availability, communication, equipment use, and security for an employee who may be working outside of the office.

(11:01):

And sometimes I have employers who are maybe manufacturing or a hospital system, perhaps if we don’t have remote work, we’re all in person. I want you to consider that you may want to put something in there that’s clearly outlined that remote work is very rare, but in the event that you have something like an A accommodation for an administrative or a billing person or something that a DA would consider it a reasonable accommodation to allow ‘em to work from home during surgery recovery or something, you do want to have something in there to address those rare situations, even if you are a fully in person workplace.

Lori Cole (11:38):

And here’s an example of the at will employment section that you should have in your handbook. And don’t worry about copying and pasting this or trying to take screen grabs. You are going to get a copy of this tomorrow. So Vickie, why don’t you tell us about the rest of the sessions that we must have?

Vickie Krolak (11:59):

Yeah, building on what Chrisanne shared, there are some additional policies you’ll want to address. The first one being workplace safety. It’s critical for employees to understand the company’s commitment to providing a safe work environment and how to report any concerns that they may have. We’ve also seen an increase in workplace violence and strategies on protecting employees, and these do vary by state, so you want to make sure you look at that and the requirements there. You also want to include an overuse section on compensation benefits. This typically benefits are housed in separate plan documents, but the handbook should provide an overall summary that direct to employees on what’s available to them and how they can find more information. Also, wage and hour compliance. This is where we define how employees are classified, how their time should be tracked, and how their rules apply to things like overtime breaks and pay practices.

(12:53):

Paychecks. The next section, time off and leave policies, and this can get pretty comprehensive. This covers things like vacation, sick leave, PTO, holidays and all those newly legal requirement leaves. We know at the federal level, depending on your size, there is A-F-M-L-A, but many states now have passed their own laws around this, such as California. They actually have paid leave for pregnancy disabilities, safe and sick leave, domestic violence, and even stalking New York, similar type protections there. Massachusetts now has a paid family medical leave, the PFML, they also have laws around elder care, school care and many more. Colorado, Oregon, Washington, you see that northwest corridor has lots of benefits when it comes to leave for employees. And Minnesota recently passed earned sick and safe time. That’s now statewide paid leave, and that begins in the year next year in 2026. Some key takeaways here, these leave requirements can vary by state.

(14:03):

If you are a multi-state employer, you’ll want to know those and include those in your handbook, whether you apply them to all employees or maybe just those employees in those states, you can do that as well. And also, these states also have poster requirements, so you have to inform your employees of their rights under these leave laws. This clear guidance will reduce confusion and help ensure fairness across the organization. And their last section I like to include is the separation employment. This section explains what happens when an employee leaves organization, whether they resign, retire, or are terminated, includes details such as final pay, how they can return their company property, how they can continue their benefits, how references are done. And if you do X interviews explains that as well. These sections altogether, all nine, create a comprehensive framework that only protects you as the company, but also provides employees with clarity and consistency throughout their employment journey.

Lori Cole (15:14):

So let’s do a quick poll here. Does your employee handbook have an AI policy? Yes. No. Or unsure. AI is a hot topic with everybody. We need to wait for just a minute for these results to render. So find that on your screen, but hot topic with everybody and it’s just come at us like a freight train. Over the last couple of years, I know we’ve implemented an AI policy and I felt like we implemented it at a very early stage of ai. Would you guys agree with that?

Vickie Krolak (15:53):

Absolutely. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. I attempted an HR round table earlier since September, early this month, sorry, October. And it was surprising how many employers were unsure or not clear on where to start and what they should be implementing. As you know, Lori AI is evolving so much and it’s continuing to evolve as we continue down this journey. I informed my HR friends, SH RM has a templated baseline you can look at and review on their website If you’re a national insurance member, I think it gives you a good baseline, but you really have to tailor it to your company as far as are you going to allow it full access? Do you want to put some guardrails in place and only use it for certain things or are you just not going to allow it at all? And California just implemented new laws around AI as well, so it’s important to check those out and see how you’re going to use it in your particular organization.

Lori Cole (16:56):

Alright, so really more people than not do not have an AI policy in their handbook. Well, this next section is for you because we’re going to talk about the emerging policies, topics and trends and AI being one of them. Chrisanne, tell us what we should be doing in our handbooks as it relates to ai.

Chrisanne Bowden (17:21):

Sure. Yeah, you make a really good point, Lori. AI has come on so quickly and I think organizations are finding everything across the board from people afraid to use it to people probably overusing it, not really thinking about what it is. So it is important that we look at how our organization wants it to be used, what are the rules and communicate this to employees in general. What we need to keep in mind is handbooks aren’t static. They need to evolve with workplace trends. They also need to evolve with legal developments. Vickie has touched on and my wonderful colleague I would call a compliance expert. She does so many handbooks for multi-state employers in every state, and the federal government has really changed the tune in the last probably couple of decades. I think probably the Affordable Care Act was the last real emergence that we had from the federal government with regards to any employment law, not so much as of late, right?

(18:23):

Vickie with the big beautiful bill, but the main guidance is now coming from the states. So whether you’re keeping up with your own state or you’re a multi-state employer, you have to keep on top of the legal developments that are happening in your area. And I say state, but we do also see municipalities and counties. For example, I hires located as headquartered out of Frederick County, Maryland. The county just south of Frederick County is Montgomery County. You’ve heard of it very large. Basically DC suburb, Washington DC suburb, and they have their own employment employment laws. So there’s things that you always have to stay on top of. And also when you’re evolving your handbook, you might be considering employee needs. One of the things Vickie and I do a lot is work with small and growing businesses. And I’ve recently had an employer who started working with us when they were very small, but they’re achieving a lot of success and they’re growing and they were realizing that their unpaid leave policy was being used way too liberally.

(19:28):

It was making it very difficult for the organization to run because people would use up all their PTO and then just say they’re taking unpaid leave and they didn’t really have any way to tell them that they couldn’t. So in the most recent handbook update, we had to take a look at that could be at the other side of things too, where we may want to create some policy that’s more employee friendly. But I want to walk through Vickie and I want to walk through the topics that I think right now at this current moment or the most essential. And the first being AI that Lori was talking about, it is showing up everywhere from drafting emails to analyzing data without clear policies. Though your employees don’t know what’s appropriate, this is why your handbook should set boundaries. For example, define when AI use is acceptable, like drafting a first draft or using it to brainstorm some ideas to find when it’s not acceptable.

(20:24):

So this is probably going to be making final legal, financial or compliance type decisions. AI is not perfect. We are hearing stories all over of people taking information right out of AI and applying it and it’s not accurate and causing whole lots of headaches. So there needs to be a human element when it comes to those big decision making situations. And importantly too, who owns the work? AI generated content if it’s done as part of being an employee of an organization that is company property. These guardrails are going to make it clear that AI is a powerful tool, but it never replaces professional judgment or replaces their accountability. And once people understand that, I think that you’ll find they will be careful with their usage. Also with ai, we really have to look at privacy. It raises a big data privacy concern issue. Employees may not realize that putting sensitive information into a public AI tool could expose confidential data.

(21:29):

So your policy around AI should cover three main points. No entering of personally identifiable information, no entering of trade secrets and no client data into public AI systems. I do a lot of recruiting. I use AI a lot to make really dynamic job postings, but when I draft the post, I anonymize it so that that’s not sitting out there with my client’s information. In an AI tool, only use company approved AI tools too that your operations team, your IT team has approved to meet your security standards. And remember, you always have to follow privacy laws, whether that’s HIPAA or something state specific related to privacy. You need to have that outlined in your AI policy too.

(22:17):

This allows your company to embrace innovation, but it’s also going to continue to get to who you’re protecting sensitive information. Another area that does need regular updates is social media and the DIOD bring your own device policies. Personal and work life are overlapping more and more going on for a long time now. So you want to be setting clear expectations how folks protect the company can be. I want to start with the caveat too, that there are freedom of speech definitely so exists on social media. It’s pretty difficult and you want to use a lot of caution with censoring what employees are using on their own social media pages. I know Vickie had a situation a while back where an employee was reprimanded for displaying her religion on her own social media page and that caused quite a concern. You may want to expand on that at some point, Vickie, but as far as how social media use was with regards to your organization, your policy should explain how to reference the company online, set expectations to respectful behavior and clarify the line between personal opinions and representing the business.

(23:42):

And for the BYOD, bring your own device. This requires basic security like passwords, anti virus, and remote capabilities. Also clarify that the company’s rights, if the device is sensitive, data is lost to colon. What are the requirements for reporting on that? If there is company property or a personal device with company information, that loss is stolen. And keep in mind, all of this does have to balance employee privacy. It can be tricky. These updates though are going to help reduce risks of data, reputational harm and blur boundaries. Where do you go from here, Vickie, what else would you point out? New emerging?

Vickie Krolak (24:33):

Yeah, good question. We’re also seeing a uptick in women’s health. Handbooks are increasingly including policies that protect reproductive maternal health, access to benefits, accommodations even now, support issues around menopause and fertility treatments about 10 years ago, maybe longer now, feels like lactation accommodations went into place. The requirements around that started at the state level and have moved more to federal with the Pump Act. The Pregnancy Workers’ Fairness Act that passed a couple of years ago needs to be in your handbook and there are special requirements around there. And even beyond the federal, many states have additional accommodations that can be allowed or requirements. And why is this important? Well, one, it’s the law and two, it signals to your employees that companies recognize and support the full range of women’s health needs in the workplace. Policy should spell out these benefits and what’s covered, how leave is handled and where employees can go for resources or how to request an accommodation.

(25:36):

Clear language helps eliminate stigmas around this and also ensures consistency in your practices. Next I would mention flexible work arrangements. Hybrid and remote work is here to stay. As Chrisanne mentioned, these policies should clearly define what that looks like. Many employers scrambled during the pandemic to figure out a framework of how to align these policies with your culture and your organization, what you were going to allow, what you weren’t going to allow. And these have evolved since then. You still have that original remote work policy you wrote in 2020. It’s going to need some updating, especially if you’ve required your employees to come back in the office, even if it’s on a couple days a week basis. It should include things like who’s eligible for remote or a hybrid schedule, what those core hours and availability expectations are, things around how they use teams. And zoom camera on camera off, I hear this all the time, how they are productive and how they communicate expectations around that.

(26:40):

We use teams here and so making sure that you’re on green during those core hours and of course unless you’re off that day I think is important. This section should include how they use their equipment, how they receive their equipment, cybersecurity, password protections, confide information reimbursement if that’s something your company offers to employees. This was a big question back in 2020. Are we going to allow an allowance towards or stipend towards office equipment now that they’re working at home? Clear guidelines prevent misunderstandings and allow flexibility across your team. Everybody knows what’s expected of them. And then pay transparency. This is gaining momentum in many states. It’s already law and this year alone, five states have or will have transparency laws that have gone into effect including Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and additionally other states like Oregon has a new law going into effect in 2026.

(27:37):

Even local jurisdictions, I know Christine mentioned this earlier about Montgomery County, not far from where we are, but Cleveland, Ohio now has requirements around pay transparencies and these laws generally require employees to disclose salary ranges in those job postings through specific requirements. So if you’re one of those states, I do suggest that you look that up and make sure there are postings around that as well. And look at the effective date. Like I mentioned, some have gone into effect already, some are going into effect here in the next year. As for handbooks, they should reflect how your organization communicates pay ranges, how they can be eligible for promotion and how compensation is decided. Do you do market studies and do you have a pay philosophy? And do your employees understand that these policies help build trust? They demonstrate compliance with the laws that are evolving and also sets expectations so employees clearly understand how paid practices are applied across your organization should there be any concerns raised and equal opportunity?

(28:42):

We touched on this a little bit earlier. A standard statement is required in your handbook, but you should if you have not already tailored it to the states that you operate in. Some states have gone beyond those protections of the federal law such as sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and even political affiliation. And I’ve even seen socioeconomic class as well being protected. Now your handbook should include other general, more than just a general EO statement. It should have those state specific, whether you’re doing an addendum for each state you’re in or if you want to have all inclusive comprehensive EEOC policy that covers everything. It shows that your employees, that your company takes compliance seriously and is committed to that inclusive workplace as is protected under the law in all the states they operate in. And finally, we’re seeing an uptick in religious accommodation request and EEOC claims.

(29:40):

So if you do not have a religious accommodation policy in your handbook, I do encourage you to get that in there. This explains their rights to request a reasonable accommodation if they have a sincere held religious belief or practice. It should include things like flexible scheduling for prayer time, dress code modifications, and time off for religious observations. Policy should be clear about how they request that accommodation. It shows that you’re committed to engaging in the interactive dialogue and it fosters a team of a culture of respect and prevents discrimination claims, and that’s what they’re seeing now, most notably the Supreme Court case Golf versus DeJoy. This included a postal worker who requested to not work on Sundays due their religious beliefs but was denied and ultimately resigned from his position. The Supreme Court found that the employer had not adequately demonstrated that the accommodating the employee’s requests would cause a substantial increase in cost to the business establishing a higher bar now, which was previously de minimis standard for undue hardship according to EEOC, common religious accommodations can include things like flexible scheduling, voluntary shifts with swaps in situations, and even REA job reassignments. I’m not an attorney, I don’t claim to be one. So if you’re unsure what to do and you have an employee come to you with any of this EEOC religious accommodations, pregnancy, I do suggest you talk to an attorney about best practices and how to handle these situations. They’re not always black and white. Sometimes you have to get creative and really interpret the law and what it says you should or should not do or should consider doing.

Lori Cole (31:30):

All right, that was a big one and here is an example of the artificial intelligence workplace policy. As I said, you all are going to get a copy of this tomorrow and we also have this religious accommodation policy example. Ladies, did you want to say anything about either of those slides or move to the next one?

Vickie Krolak (31:55):

I would just say that, I mean like we mentioned earlier with the poll, the AI policy, if you’re not sure, this is a great example we provided here, here for you today, the religious accommodation one. If you don’t include this, please consider getting that in your handbook. I do see this often left out of handbooks, and so I’m like, Ooh, please get that in there. It only takes one person to report to throw you off,

Lori Cole (32:23):

Right? All right, so Chrisanne, with all that needs to be covered, I’m not sure there’s any room for mistakes at this point, so can you tell us what not to do?

Chrisanne Bowden (32:37):

Sure, there are definitely some. We just listed a whole lot of dues for your handbook, right? But I want to go over the don’ts. So when it comes to employee handbooks, these are some common mistakes that can really create problems. First of all, not having a handbook or letting your handbook get very out of date, this is leaving you exposed. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen issues when somebody raises a complaint and if there’s no policy or no guidelines in place, employers are really left scrambling to figure out how to defend themselves. And I think Vickie, didn’t you once do a handbook that the last update was in the eighties?

Vickie Krolak (33:22):

It was pretty outdated. Yeah,

Chrisanne Bowden (33:24):

It was pretty outdated. So it’s really important. We actually strongly recommend at least a review and quick update every year. But at the minimum, if you can’t commit yourself to that every two years, your handbook needs reviewed and it will be, believe me, when you review it, you will update it. So it’s something that employers need to find a way to make a priority, whether that’s dedicating time in-house for finding an outside resource that can do that for you. Yeah, it’s definitely not something you can leave behind. So not having a handbook, letting it get out of date. The other thing is using a generic template or borrowing a handbook from somewhere else. I have a good friend who owns a small business and I was trying to help her out and get started and said, would you like me to do a handbook? And she said, oh no, I just actually got the handbook from my brother-in-law’s business and changed the name.

(34:26):

But there were significantly different businesses, significantly different size of organizations. It wasn’t at all what she needed, so we were able to get that taken care of. But templates are often a good place to start, but policies need to reflect your culture and your compliance needs. So avoid copy pasting templates without taking that time to do the customization. When templates are helpful, and I know Vickie referenced SHRM templates, there’s some other good resources out there. I’ve utilized this thing called Virgil HR that I’ve been really happy with. What’s the one you’ve been using Vickie too, Mineral?

Vickie Krolak (35:10):

No, I use Virgil HR. I like that one as well,

Chrisanne Bowden (35:13):

But it’s a lot of work even with the template. So there’s some good resources out there, but you still have to put in the work. So again, they’re going to reflect your company’s culture, your practices, your legal obligations, and they should not be a generic document. Another common issue is ambiguity. Believe me, if you’re facing any legal issue, the ambiguity is going to work in favor of the employee and against your organization. So vague language is really just going to lead to misunderstandings, inconsistent enforcement by your managers of what the policies are and disputes with your employees. Policies need to be clear, concise, and easy to understand. That’s another pitfall I see too is sometimes people view a handbook like a legal document and it is, but it shouldn’t be written in legalese. It should be written in clear, concise language that everybody reading it can find an easy way to interpret the policy.

(36:11):

Next, it’s critical for you to include federal and state specific requirements, especially if you operate in multiple states. Along the same lines, don’t forget essential disclaimer language like the at will employment. Without it, your employees may assume protections that really don’t exist. Some policies are unenforceable or even illegal. So I’ve seen handbooks where pay discussions are restricted. You really have to be careful there. I wouldn’t put that language in a handbook. At the same time, policies without clear consequences won’t hold much weight either on the other side, policies that are too strict or too inflexible can backfire potentially exposing the company to legal challenges and to employee dissatisfaction. A handbook should guide behavior but not trap you into unrealistic rules. Another big miss is failing to include the NLRA language, which protects employees’ rights to discuss working conditions. You also need signed acknowledgements from employees, otherwise enforcement becomes difficult. And finally, a handbook should really invite two-way communication. If employees can’t ask questions or provide feedback, it really is going to become a barrier instead of a resource. Avoiding these mistakes is going to help you ensure your handbook is both a compliance tool and a reflection of your company’s culture. So in short, a well-crafted handbook balances clarity, compliance and flexibility while staying current and tailored to your organization.

Vickie Krolak (37:52):

Yeah, it’s interesting you mentioned about that. I had a client recently who had a pretty rigid attendance policy in their handbook and I advised them this is not in compliance with the safe and sick leave law in the state you’re in. You can’t penalize an employee for taking off sick when they truly are sick and they have rights to be off. So definitely look at your policies and how they compare to the law. And I know Chrisanne mentioned Virgil ar and sure, I subscribe to a variety of compliance newsletters, so I try to stay up to date on what’s changing and where it’s changing and try to understand it as best I can so that when I do a handbook for an that I’m pulling all my resources together to make sure that they have the most compliant rigid, but still keeping them legal and customize it to their company culture as best I can. I think it’s important that what I write for one company is not going to be the same for the next, especially if you’re in a different industry, the one you do for the restaurant’s not going to be the same one you do for a dental practice or let’s say a dog walking service or an IT company. They can vary based on what industry you’re in and how your company operates.

Lori Cole (39:09):

So I’m going to insert a question that I just saw on the q and a. Somebody wanted to know where they can find the information for their state. What are the policies, what are the guidelines? What kind of guidance can you give this person for that?

Vickie Krolak (39:26):

Yeah, and like I said, SHRM does a pretty good job of staying compliant with the different changing ever changing laws. But if you go to your state specific website, so florida.gov or Sunbiz or if you’re in, I have a client in Massachusetts, I’ve been referencing there mass.gov page quite often there’s a lot of intricacies there that are going on. Whatever state you’re in, go to that government page and look at that and see what’s happening. Subscribe to some regular newsletters. We do Virgil, HR Mineral, I think it’s ERE. There’s a bunch of ‘em out there. If you just search compliance newsletters, there’ll be a bunch. HR Dive is another one I get every day that has what’s happening and what’s coming in and what’s coming on the pipeline. That’s a good reason as well. There’s a bunch of them out there you can subscribe to.

Lori Cole (40:18):

When does SHRM, I’m sorry, Chrisanne.

Chrisanne Bowden (40:23):

I was just going to say Lori, I want to add a little plug because she’s going to be modest, but Vickie herself is actually a virtual encyclopedia of this stuff and she never minds connecting with other people. Just a quick question, so I’d add her to the mix.

Lori Cole (40:39):

Yeah, Vickie do the SHRM, like the state level SHRMs also have this kind of information?

Vickie Krolak (40:48):

There usually is a legislative chair, state and national on those state boards, they usually have a pretty good rundown. My chapter here in mid Florida, we have a legislative chair and he tries to stay up to date on what’s going on in Florida and locally here in Polk County. On our website we also have a legislative page that links them to the Florida website. So depending on what state they’re in and what chapter they’re in, there should be someone on their either state council or local chapter that’s staying up to date on that. And I like to provide a little update during our chapter meetings of what’s happening.

Lori Cole (41:27):

Alright, thank you. I didn’t mean to run us down a rabbit trail on that one, but I think it was very useful because I saw a lot of emojis going up for that. So I think people wanted to know that.

Vickie Krolak (41:38):

Absolutely.

Lori Cole (41:40):

There are a lot of moving pieces on this, Vickie. How do we keep everything up to date?

Vickie Krolak (41:47):

Yeah, once you’re in books created, it’s good to keep your current and in writing. So how often should you review? A good rule of thumb is at least annually or anytime there’s a significant change in the federal, state and local laws. As we know the laws typically update July one and October one and we just had some past year in Florida where I’m at that impacted employers. So it’s good to kind of look at those and see if it’s time to update or if you want to wait and do it annually, even as your company evolves with policies. I’ve seen where a client of mine wanted to update their PTO policy. They were frontloading their PTO and unfortunately that was in January. So unfortunately they had a few people leave in March and they were paying out these large balances of PTO, so they did a midyear switcheroo and decided to roll that back within the legal requirements to just pay out 40 hours versus 120 hours that they were getting.

(42:44):

So things like that, if something evolves in your company, definitely a good time to review and update that. Small updates can make a big difference for compliance and clarity. So like I said, review annually, at least at a minimum. It’s important to let your team know what’s changed. I like to include a short list at the beginning of that handbook I with bullet points of what changed and give them an overview and we roll it out of what it is and how it impacts them. Next, consider who should be involved in that update or revision. HR should typically lead the process, but it might be helpful to get input from your leadership team and in many cases managers who are going to be enforcing and applying those policies day to day collaboration ensures that your handbook is both practical and aligned with your company’s culture.

(43:33):

And finally think about legal counsel versus hr. Legal review is critical step in that compliance and risk mitigation, but internal HR or outsource like myself can ensure that the policies are up to date and in best practices. Ideally like a combination of HR drafting, running it by your leadership team and then even having an attorney review it from that liability and compliance perspective. And I actually recommend this to clients. They’ll ask me, should I run this by my attorney? And I’m absolutely, I’m here to get it. So that’s the draft level and get it where we think what needs to be. But feel free to run by your attorney. You have any concerns?

Lori Cole (44:23):

Alright, Vickie, can you go ahead and give us a recap before we get to our q and as?

Vickie Krolak (44:29):

Absolutely. So just to recap what we talked today about handbooks or data protect your business and your employees, it is a balance policy should be communicated clear and consistent. Avoid using generic language partner with your HR team or a person like myself and outsource HR to ensure you have the most UpToDate and current policies required by law included in your handbook. And then review and update your handbook annually, even if there’s a minor or major change that you feel it needs to be rolled out to staff before the annual review is good as well, both from the internal and process and as the laws change.

Lori Cole (45:14):

Alright, so before q and a, don’t forget that you need to stay until the end of the webinar so that you can click that view certificate button in the certification widget so you can download your certificate of completion for SHRM and HRCI activity IDs. And if you miss it, no worries, it’s a new thing we’re just starting. We’ll send an email with a link to access your certificate within 24 hours. But just be sure to know that you have to have stayed on for the total required amount of time and I think it’s 55 minutes, so just don’t leave yet because we have people that do that and then at the end they can’t download that certificate because they haven’t been on long enough. Alright, let’s do some q and A here. First question, what is the most common missing policy from handbooks that you develop?

Vickie Krolak (46:18):

Yeah, good question Lori. And then there’s more than one, but I’d like to highlight that clear remote and hybrid policy, especially as work arrangements have become more flexible, many handbooks still reflect that traditional onsite structure and don’t address things like expectations around schedules, communication, equipment use, and it could be specific to your company culture. Another frequent omission is that social media and technology use policy, this is important for updating or protecting your company or repetition, reputation and data and even social media. Christy had mentioned earlier about the case I had with someone’s personal social media, as long as they’re not representing on your behalf as your company and you want to have language in there around that saying they can’t do that unless they’re in a certain role. What someone posts on their Instagram private account in this incident, it was a picture of her praying and she had another employee complain about her doing that and you can’t do that. It’s her personal page reflecting her own personal beliefs. You cannot reprimand your employee for that type of activity.

Lori Cole (47:36):

Alright. What are your recommendations for communicating or publishing changes to policy in the handbook in the moment year over year? So I think that what that’s saying is how do we publish changes in the moment and make sure everybody has signed off on the Yes, I’ve seen this document.

Vickie Krolak (48:00):

Do you want to take this one Chris hand or you want me to go ahead? Okay. I would say the easiest way to communicate with your staff is digitally. So if you have an HRIS system that you can upload that to digital distribution is best, you can provide it also by email. If you have a company intranet, I’m a big fan of the secure HR platform where they can access it at any time. I get questions sometimes about where’s the handbook and like it’s in our HRIS system, if you have this availability, you can also have them digitally sign that acknowledgement form, big fan of Paylocity, they have this available in their system and then you can track it and it goes in their file online. So you can see that they have signed off and that they understand the policies in the handbook. And then anytime at orientation it’s good to go over those key policies during onboarding and just remind them where it’s at.

Chrisanne Bowden (49:02):

I would add to that too, you mentioned acknowledgement a few times, Vickie, but whatever system you’re using, make sure that is dialed in, locked in a hundred percent that you know have an acknowledgement from everyone because unfortunately in my career, being the person who’s had to handle some nice paperwork from an attorney, that’s also the first thing that they’re going to subpoena for you and say, Hey, they said they were sexually harassed, they didn’t know who to go to, there was no policy that they could reference. I can come in and say here’s my policy, but then they say, where’s the acknowledgement? She says she never got that handbook. So whatever you’re using, make sure that you’re very diligent. A lot of what Vickie talks about with these electronic tools, almost self-manage, but if you’re a small business and you don’t have access to that, just put in a couple checks and balances that along the way that you are double checking that you are actually getting that signed acknowledgement.

Vickie Krolak (50:06):

Even on my prior roles, we did paper trail type, we had a spreadsheet when we rolled out the handbook, we made sure we collected that paper document that was signed. We had a checklist and it went in that employee’s file because unfortunately I’ve been part of a union campaign before in my career. And that was one of the first things like as Chrisanne mentioned, that they wanted to, did they sign up on the handbook? You receipt of their acknowledgement and we had to provide that along with a billion other documents.

Chrisanne Bowden (50:34):

Yes, you can’t hold a person accountable to any policy that you can’t prove they knew about and agreed to.

Lori Cole (50:45):

Alright, well that just layers right into our next question leads to our next question. What os in handbooks, what are the omissions in handbooks that could land you in hot water?

Chrisanne Bowden (50:58):

Yeah. Yeah. So what are the ones that come to mind first and foremost that we really want to make sure that you have that at will employment statement. The only state that doesn’t have employment at will is Montana. So unless you happen to be a Montana employer, it’s something that you have to have without it. Employees might assume and a savvy lawyer might twist around that they had some right to guaranteed employment. You also need to make sure you’re having your harassment, your retaliation, and your discrimination policies. Those are required by law to protect employees and to protect the company and they demonstrate compliance with federal and state regulations. You also, would you say Vickie probably paid time off and any kind of leave policies again, can’t stress enough check what your state has about leave or if you’re multi-state how you want to handle that because misunderstandings there can lead to wage and hour disputes. You could potentially see the federal government on your doorstep and that’s never anything anybody wants. And safety and reporting procedures, I will tell you, as challenging as dealing with the government agency is few are any more challenging than osha. So not having your clear safety policies could result in an OSHA inspection, liability issues, et cetera. So I dunno if you have anything to add, Vickie?

Vickie Krolak (52:32):

Yeah, I would see around the harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, New York stands out in my mind. They have very specific language that have to be included in your handbook when it comes to that.

Lori Cole (52:47):

Alright, what kind of things should be stated about AI in the handbook?

Vickie Krolak (52:55):

Yeah, good question Lori. Clear guardrails whether you allow it or you don’t allow it, what kind of software you’re allowing to use. Is it chat GPT? Is it something else? I learned probably about a year ago that chat GPT actually has a feature in it that you can turn off so it doesn’t build the machine as my CEO called it because this technology, I love it and I hate it, but AI is here to stay. So making sure that you understand as a company what you’re going to allow or not allow. Guardrails are always a good place to start. I’m sorry, I’m trying to find my notes on that. I did have some good notes around that. Christian over

Chrisanne Bowden (53:43):

Clearly communicating to employees but can’t go in there because I have heard stories where people take a financial spreadsheet that they’re trying to analyze and dump it into AI and they don’t have that privacy setting. So now you’ve just really exposed your company to a lot of risk. And of course people have their privacy expectations. So Vickie started off saying what you can and can’t use it for, but being specific too about what is not allowed. It can get so easy that people forget that they, they’re putting information in,

Vickie Krolak (54:22):

Especially around that confidentiality or confidential proprietary information you always want to anonymize. If you are using it as a tool, I think it’s a great tool to brainstorm on. I think it’s great tool to polish emails. A labor law attorney will tell you, do not write your handbook in chat GPT because it’s not always going to be compliance. And it’s important to understand that those softwares are usually behind, so they’re not going to pull the most recent compliance date information. And I’ve seen where unfortunately with the labor attorneys have told me that their clients have gotten in trouble for just using those tools for that type of thing. So anytime it comes around financial legal advice, that’s not a tool you want to use. I think it’s a good tool to enhance productivity, good thing to draft or polish emails, but you have to have that human element, that human review and that human accountability.

Lori Cole (55:23):

All right, well that’s all the time we have left and I will tell you, if you want Vickie to write your handbook, just give us a shout at [email protected] or reach out to Vickie directly and she will be happy to do that and consult with you on what needs to be done. It’s all the time we have left. Thank you again, Vickie and Chrisanne for being here. We have the certificate of completion now that you can go ahead and download. So click that little button and download your certificate. And if you don’t get to it, you’re going to be getting a link in the next 24 hours. You can schedule a free consultation, like I said with Vickie. If you’re looking to for personalized guidance on your handbook or any other HR project, just click that outsource HR services link to book a time that works best for you. If any other questions come to mind, reach out to our [email protected]. We’ll get you in touch with the right person. And I think that’s all we have today. Keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for a recording of this. Thank you for all the emojis. Thank you audience for being here today and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks again. Chrisanne and Vickie.

Chrisanne Bowden (56:41):

Bye everybody.