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What should be in an employee handbook?
Written on 26 February 2025
All employers strive for a highly productive workforce with low staff turnover. An employee handbook, also known as a staff handbook, is key to achieving this. It outlines workplace rules, standards, and procedures, providing clear guidance for employees.
While not legally required, a well-structured employee handbook helps create a positive work environment, ensures employees understand their rights and responsibilities, and enables the efficient and effective resolution of workplace issues. So what should your employee handbook contain?
Here’s some of the essential policies every small business employee handbook in the UK should include.
Sickness absence
The main aim of a Sickness Absence Policy is to provide a clear framework for reporting, managing and recording sickness absences. It should clearly establish what employees need to do to inform their employer of their absence, trigger points for unacceptable levels of short and frequent sickness absence, and the procedure for dealing with prolonged sickness absence.
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Disciplinary
The Disciplinary Policy outlines the expected standards of conduct for employees and guides employers in handling disciplinary issues fairly and consistently. It should detail the step-by-step procedure you will adhere to during the disciplinary process, including potential sanctions, examples of gross misconduct, and the appeals process.
Grievance
If an employee has a concern, they should raise it with their line manager. Having a clear procedure for addressing grievances helps maintain positive employment relationships, prevents minor issues from escalating, and reduces the risk of costly claims.
Ensure your grievance policy aligns with Acas guidelines, explains how employees can raise a grievance, and outlines the steps you will take to address it.
Performance and appraisals
The aim of this policy is to try and reconcile any sub-standard work issues, give the employee an opportunity to improve, and identify any underlying causes of the poor performance.
Equal opportunities
Your employee handbook should include a statement making it clear that you are committed to ensuring all of your employees and job applicants are protected from unlawful discrimination.
You should state that all forms of discrimination based on the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 will not be tolerated, and clearly define bullying, harassment and victimisation.
Harassment
Harassment in the workplace must not be tolerated as it can have a damaging effect on victims and others who have witnessed the incident(s) and may impact their health, confidence, morale and performance.
Your employee handbook should include a policy on harassment, which should clearly explain that it is a disciplinary offence and that victims should raise any incidents through the grievance procedure.
Whistleblowing
The law protects whistleblowers from being subjected to detriment or dismissal by their employers for reporting potential wrongdoing. A Whistleblowing Policy outlines your internal system for reporting concerns, investigating issues, and taking corrective action.
Dress code
You may wish to set a dress code. Dress codes can be introduced to enable customers to easily identify their staff, for health and safety reasons, or to ensure that their employees fit the company’s corporate image.
Although there is significant leeway, you should be mindful of not discriminating against anyone. Employers can set different requirements for men and women, but they cannot treat one gender less favourably and may face claims of unlawful discrimination if they do. There are also potential issues with restricting the wearing of religious clothing.
Social media
A clear and robust Social Media Policy is essential as an employee’s use of social media can pose risks to the company’s reputation and team relationships.
You should set clear guidelines on what is and isn’t permitted, both inside and outside of the workplace, and the consequences of breaching the policy. You should make it clear that serious misuses of social media could amount to gross misconduct and result in their dismissal.
Remember...
Keep in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive list. Other common policies include health and safety, computer usage, data protection, and leave policies such as flexible working, maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave. As the world of work evolves, new policies may be needed to address emerging challenges, such as artificial intelligence.
Remember, it’s not enough to have policies in place – they need to be understood and enforced. Employees must be able to easily access the handbook and understand the policies, and managers must be trained to apply them consistently and correctly.
Policies also need to be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure they remain legally up-to-date and fit for purpose. Professional support can alleviate this burden and help employers keep their documents compliant.
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Need a hand with your handbook?
WorkNest can provide you with a carefully crafted employee handbook that meets legal requirements and supports a positive, problem-free workplace. Whether you need an expert review of your current policies or a new handbook tailored to your business, our team are here to ensure these essential documents are clear, compliant, and effective.
Contact us today to get started. Call 0345 226 8393 or request your free consultation using the button below.