Employee Handbook

CPAnotHR · August 2003

As my name implies, I'm a CPA by trade, not Human Resources. But it seems lately that 90% + of my job is Human Resources related. Having said this, I have been charged with writing an Employee Handbook and a Safety Manual for Workers Comp purposes. We are an architectural firm employing approximately 60 employees in New Orleans. Where do I beegin? Are there sample Architectural Handbooks out there that I can model ours from? Please advise. Thanks!

JKlink · September 2003

You really have a task ahead of you! My real advise is to contract with someone to do the manual for you, but if that is not possible .....
Your company falls under a number of federal laws & state laws -- you need to know what the company wants to do, go over & above what is required or meet the requirements. For example FMLA, you can require that employees use all of their earned time off or not.
Other areas that you will need to know how they want to deal with is - sexual harassment/harassment free environment, who is in the chain of command for a report to be made to, how are you going to train employees/supervisors on the policy.
Other topics to cover: performance evaluations, access to personnel files, how will you handel a RIF, resignation/exit interview, employee classifictions, hours of work/breaks, recording hours of work/overtime, pay periods, gudielines for conduct, absences, vacation, holidays, jury duty, etc.!!!
I can send you a general outline if you would like.

FrayWitzer · September 2003

With all due respect (and I know this is not what you asked for), your company is being penny wise and pound foolish. A bad employee handbook is worse than no handbook at all (from a litigation standpoint). This is not a job that should be put on your shoulders. The company needs to hire an attorney for this one, particularly given your size (your company is subject to the FMLA and other federal statutes which require some pretty specific language). It would be a whole lot like them asking you to do blueprints for the next building they plan on working on (or, for that matter, asking ME to give them blueprints). For a few thousand dollars -- and it shouldn't cost a whole lot more than that -- this is something you want to farm out!

Evan

Margaret Morford · September 2003

My company writes a lot of handbooks and policy manuals for other companies and firms because the HR people are swamped these days and don't have time to do it. If you want to outsource this project to someone, I'll be glad to discuss it with you. Feel free to call me at my number listed below.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]

Employee Handbook

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