Why Do I Need An Employee Manual?
When businesses hire their first team members, they often start without having considered all of the implications, which means they don't have an employee manual in place. But, your new employee is going to be representing you and your company to your customers and clients. They will be in your premises and will gain access to all of your knowledge and resources. Many people find that what starts out with great promise ends up in disaster when they haven't considered all of the potential scenarios.
As soon as you hire your first team member, you need to consider having an employee manual. The contents only need to be basic to start with, but the benefits of having one will add value to your business and will help protect you if things go wrong.
So, let's have a look at some of the reasons you need a manual.
Legal Compliance
From the day your first team member walks in the door you also inherit a whole pile of legal obligations with which you must comply. The majority of these legal obligations require you to document your policy on certain areas, and to educate your team members on these obligations.
You need to ensure you have addressed all workplace health and safety, sexual harassment, bullying, racial vilification, anti-discrimination, and privacy requirements. You also need to comply with all industrial relations and financial obligations in terms of correct payments of wages and superannuation.
Just as you ensure that your ATO requirements are met, you also need to meet all requirements under the raft of legislation that covers employees.
Team Member Education
Team members need to know their rights, responsibilities, and entitlements. By having them spelled out in your employee policy manual, you can quickly educate all your team members without having to go hunting for information. You can refer a team member to a particular employee policy if they have a question.
Productivity
Your time is precious. By writing down and sharing the information with your team members you save repeating yourself. You will also reduce new team member orientation time as everything is well documented and easy to follow.
Clarity
By documenting your employee policies, both you and your team members know the procedure you will be following for particular issues. This is vital for procedures such as employee reviews, probation and discipline processes.
Your employee manual draws the proverbial line in the sand and declares, "This is how we do things around here".
Instant HR Policies and Procedures Manual
We recommend the Instant HR Policies and Procedures Manual because it is written for Australian laws, designed for small businesses and is easy to tailor to your business.
For more information, visit HR Employee Manual
