Does Your Company have an Employee Handbook?

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Not every company does. But there are some benefits regarding company-wide rules and employee expectations.

“An employee handbook is an important legal document that – if drafted properly – can protect an employer from a number of employee problems. However, a poorly drafted handbook can wind up creating more problems than it solves. Adopting a handbook while avoiding the "pitfalls" will help keep employees happy and lawsuits to a minimum.” – Source: Avoiding Common Employee Handbook Mistakes, Joseph Gagnon and Stephen Roppolo

Some benefits of employee handbooks:

Handbooks keep everyone on the same page: A handbook typically lays out all the “must dos” at a company. Basically, handbooks outline what’s expected of employees (what normal working hours are), pay, benefits, substance and harassment policies, attendance, and discipline.

Handbooks are helpful to new employees: Having an employee handbook is a great way to get everyone on the same page.

Handbooks can help employees understand a company’s culture: Employees can get a feel for what a business “is all about” after reading its employee handbook.

Handbooks help prove that a company’s rules and regulations are current with employment laws.

Handbooks can help define the employee/employer relationship.

Sources: The Employee Handbook: the Good, the Bad, and the Absolutely Critical; Why You Should Create an Employee Handbook.

However, handbooks (and having rules that dictate everything that goes on at the office) can be overwhelming, too:

Everything is connected to a rule: If you want to discard rules, or change up the employee policy, you’ll have to change every handbook. And because a company is a constantly evolving entity, that means policies may be changing as the company evolves, too. Over time, making constant amendments is time consuming, costly and confusing.

Some situations merit individual responses: “Imagine if a senior business development executive created a set of policies outlining how they will execute a business deal that followed the process every time.  You can’t imagine it because it would never happen!  For years HR types have been complaining about having a seat at the table and being taken seriously by their executive teams, and I think this is one of the reasons why. They don’t think about what’s in the best interests of the business.” – Source: The One Sentence HR Handbook, Fistful of Talent, Andy Porter

Other issues can arise with handbooks when policies are overly vague, too detailed, outdated, and inconsistent.

Source: The Employee Handbook: The Good, the Bad, and the Absolutely Critical

How Small Businesses Benefit Communities (and why Small Business Collaboration is Great)

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Bill McKibben, environmentalist, broadcaster and environmental justice advocate, and Mike Brady, social entrepreneur, recently discussed how small businesses could help each other while revitalizing local communities.

The discussion occurred during a panel after the screening of the documentary Fixing the Future, by David Brancaccio. The documentary is about finding innovative strategies to create sustainable businesses and stable local economies. The following small-business-collaboration ideas were discussed during the panel and reported in the article “5 Steps For Small Businesses to Revitalize Local Economies,” by Alice Groesbeck, film and video production student at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and visual communications intern for Ashoka USA.

Small businesses should discuss social responsibility (even with the competition)

Businesses in a similar, local marketplace should see each other as possible collaborators. “Partnering with other businesses offers you an opportunity to learn new ways to foster a sense of social responsibility within your community,” said Groesbeck.

Organizations, such as The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, can help connect local businesses with each other and can help businesses create sustainable economies, said Groesbeck.

Businesses should develop accountability with customers

“According to a 2010 University of Toronto study published in Psychological Science, people aren’t just buying products based on how much they cost,” Groesbeck said. “Customers also consider how the things they buy reflect their personal beliefs and impact their environment. Since communities have been devastated by the economic downturn, Americans are now shifting away from being isolated consumers and coming together as contributors.”

Businesses should try to build accountability by building natural and respectful business interactions between people in the community.

Local businesses should have a global impact

When local businesses work toward having a global impact, the business can reap rich resources that can, ultimately, help the community.

Small victories are still victories

Work in increments and celebrate the small things. Trying to tackle everything at once can leave you tired and unable to help the community – or your business.

The Importance of Supporting Other Small Businesses

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I’m going to take a wild guess and say that most of Courier Magazine’s readers own or work at a small business. So, I don’t have to tell any of you how important small businesses are! But did you know that small businesses tend to thrive more and find continued success when they work together?

In the article, “6 Ways Small Businesses Can Band Togetherfor Better Results,” on Mashable.com, Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, a filing service, said that it’s becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses to access business capital and credit over the recently past years.

Akalp said it’s important for small businesses to work together to compete with larger companies. Although it might be difficult to see other small businesses as partners and not competitors it’s essential. According to Akalp, small business owners should: 

• Seek out symbiotic and collaborative relationships with other small businesses.
• Build a collective co-op of similar businesses and individuals.

Akalp said the business owners can easily meet other like-minded company owners by:

Joining a local meetup group for entrepreneurs: Finding new business is all about finding referrals and connections. Join local groups that meet weekly, or monthly at local cafés, or restaurants. Akalp suggests checking Meetup.com, or your local chamber of commerce for groups.

Organizing a social media meetup: Get all your social media followers together and organize an in-person meetup.

Getting online: I know I just suggested that’s it’s important to get out from behind the computer and meet your contacts in person, but connecting with other small business owners online can be helpful, too. Akalp suggests browsing online communities, such as Entrepreneur Connect.

Reaching out to other types of small businesses: Even though not all small businesses may be similar to your company, you can still help other companies learn how to increase exposure. “By giving business to others, you will get business in return,” Akalp said.

Supporting other small businesses at your own company: See if you can use other local businesses to help provide your marketing materials, or serve a local coffee blend in your break room.

Get Prepared for the Future: Who Will Fill Your Shoes When You Retire

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve come across a few blogs that discuss how some family-owned businesses plan for a company owner's retirement. These companies are mulling over some pretty serious (and sometimes sensitive) stuff early on (initial succession planning should be done many years before you plan on retiring. The sooner you start to have the conversations, the better) to avoid more problems once the boss’ retirement occurs.

A business owner should know the answers to the following questions when deciding who her replacement should be:

Who will take the owner’s place: Will it be a friend, or a child? How do you choose between children? And will your choice be willing to take over?

Will you sell: If you don’t want to choose someone in the family, or a close friend to take over the company, you may want to sell the company.

Source: WeKnowNext.com

No matter what you choose to do, it’s essential that you choose someone who can do the following:

Make sure everything is in order: Feel secure and make certain that the correct person is in the right place and position to take over your job when you retire.

Keep the company dynamic the same: It’s important to make sure your successor will keep the same “feel” at the company. If a new leader goes in and changes everything, it can really upset employees, which can make transition even more difficult.

Still need help? It may be wise to seek outside council. Outside consultants can help you make sure you are doing everything correct and not letting personal bias get in the way.