Employee Communication - By the Book

Would you like to improve employee communications and at the same time hold them accountable for their behavior? Would you like your managers and supervisors to be more consistent and impartial in their dealing with employees? Would you like to get more return on investment from your employee benefits programs? How about reducing your exposure to employee claims and lawsuits? If you would like to see any or all of these objectives accomplished in your company, you need to know more about the benefits of a well-constructed employee handbook.

An employee handbook gives employees guidelines and summary information about your company's personnel policies, procedures, benefits and rules of conduct. Properly written, it can be one of the most effective ways of communicating with your employees.

Here are some reasons for having one:

• Improved morale and productivity
  Studies show that morale and productivity are highest when employees know what is expected of them and, in turn, what they can expect from the company. A carefully written employee handbook communicates your expectations in a clear and comprehensive way, using language (translated in English and Spanish) that is easy for employees to read and understand. Once employees know what your expectations are, then they can be held accountable for their behavior.
  

• Consistent application of company policy
  Bringing company policies relating to employment, personnel status, compensation, training and development, and safety together in an employee handbook can eliminate much of the misunderstanding that occurs between employees and management. Everybody in the company would now have the same reference point for answering questions and interpreting company policy. It also promotes the consistent and uniform application of company policy by managers and supervisors.
  

• Cost-effective employee benefit
  Employee benefits experts consider the employee handbook to be one of the most important and cost-effective benefits an employer can provide its employees. Having an employee handbook makes it easier to attract and retain good employees, because good employees want to work for companies that are committed to maintaining a positive employee relations climate. In addition, the employee handbook plays an important role in communicating to your employees about all of the benefits provided to them such as health and welfare, time off with pay, government mandated benefits, etc.
  
  As the cost of employee benefit plans continue to increase, it becomes increasingly important for employees to have complete and accurate information about them. When employee benefit programs are misunderstood and underutilized by employees, it is usually because of miscommunication or a complete lack of communication.

• Reduced exposure to employee claims and lawsuits
  One of the most important benefits you as an employer can realize from an employee handbook is the protection it provides from employee claims and lawsuits. Most of the media attention surrounding employee claims and lawsuits these days focuses on the multi-million dollar awards assessed against major employers. In truth, more than 90% of all wrongful termination, discrimination, wage and hour and sexual harassment complaints are filed against employers with fewer than 150 employees. The reason for this is smaller employers tend to be more arbitrary in their employment decisions than large companies and are not as well organized in managing their workforce.

Larry Fish is President of GreenSearch, the premier executive search and human resource consulting organization exclusively serving nursery and landscape employers nationwide. For more information about developing or improving your employee handbook, contact Larry at 770.392.1771or E-mail larry@greensearch.com.

For more information from the experts at GreenSearch click here.

Last modification: Friday 13. April 2007