Employee handbooks are the go-to documents within every company. Ideally, every employee should be introduced to the employee handbook on their first day during the onboarding process and have easy access to the document throughout their time at the company.
In this article, we dive into what an employee handbook should include and provide examples of companies that have created highly regarded handbooks to inspire you.
A lot of companies don’t value learning and development and onboarding enough, and it becomes more important in the remote model, particularly with young people. It’s about attention and giving the young person the time required to get ramped up and ensure that they’re fully able to learn. And this is really what’s happening at a startup. When you get into the enterprise segment, and you’re a few thousand people or a few people that level of attention may not be possible. So it’s about enablement, and it’s about learning materials and having a very robust learning and onboarding program.
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You’ll want to create an employee handbook once you start hiring employees. The human resources team usually creates and updates the employee handbook as the company evolves.
It’s also worth noting here that certain country-specific employment laws may require you to have an official employee handbook outlining mandatory work rules. This is the case in Japan, France, and Belgium.
In other countries like the US, however, no federal or state regulations require an employer to have an employee handbook.
Whether legally required or not, there are many reasons companies choose to have one. Let’s take a closer look at these reasons below.
Employee handbooks can act as an introduction to a company, answering common questions and concerns and setting the tone for the rest of the professional engagement.
A company’s employee handbook should also detail practical information regarding company policies. From dress code to PTO policy and parking guidelines to reimbursement processes, a handbook is the most effective way to aggregate and share important information.
As the company grows, having a source of truth regarding processes, codes of conduct, and behaviors becomes integral to preventing and extinguishing conflict. If a dispute or conflict arises, you can refer to the handbook to confirm whether a team member has acted out of line and find an appropriate resolution or consequence.
A comprehensive employee handbook typically includes the following elements:
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Even when companies understand what should go into an employee handbook, it can be challenging to visualize what it should look like once it’s all put together. This is where references and examples come in handy.
Here are eight of the best employee handbooks you can use for inspiration:
The GitLab team handbook contains 13,804 pages of text and serves as a central resource for information on how GitLab operates as a business. The manual is available to the public as part of GitLab’s commitment to transparency, and they welcome criticism. The “merge request” feature enables anyone to suggest improvements or add clarifications, and the “issues” option is for asking questions.
Nordstrom’s employee handbook consists of one simple rule, “Use good judgment in all situations.” While this doesn’t capture all the information a company may need to convey, we admire the brevity and simplicity. Companies could use this one-rule approach as a starting point and elaborate from there.
Valve’s handbook provides the employee with a clear career and company roadmap in a fun storybook format. The handbook guides employees through their first six months, explains what to do if they “screw up,” and provides an illustrated company history.
The Hubspot manual made it on this list because it does so much using a standard PowerPoint style. Hubspot also puts its handbook on SlideShare, demonstrating its commitment to transparency.
Netflix’s employee handbook is particularly worth mentioning because it clearly defines company culture and principles while making them actionable. After all, what good is unactionable data?
Facebook’s employee handbook (now Meta) was so well-designed that it could resemble a fancy coffee table book. Everything, from text to imagery, is visually appealing, engaging, and informative.
Trello, another technology powerhouse, is well-known for publicly hosting its handbook, which they refer to as an employee manual on its platform. The interactive format is visually appealing and easy to navigate.
Pronto Marketing’s employee handbook web page is a near-perfect example in that it’s easy-to-read, visually appealing, and comprehensive without being overkill. The clickable table of contents enables readers to find and refer back to the information they need at their convenience.
Once you’ve carefully crafted your employee handbook, it’s time to get it seen. Deel’s onboarding plugin automates your onboarding process, triggering tasks that prompt your new hires to review your employee handbook in Slack. It’s one of many useful integrations we provide.
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About the author
Gabriele Culot is a content manager and writer passionate about exploring the future of work and its opportunities. An advocate of remote and flexible work models, he is a strong believer in their power to expand access to opportunities and help build richer and more diverse connections. At Deel, he focuses on worker-related and community content, from immigration guides to workplace innovation, from digital nomad lifestyle to workplace wellbeing.
