The Importance of a Staff Handbook

Especially for Startups!

Does your Startup need a Staff Handbook?

After just the first few hires, a staff handbook is an important document in your business. The handbook is helpful in creating a strong and positive culture, communicating expectations, achieving consistency in approaching various situations, and minimizing risk and conflict.

Overall, your organization can set clear expectations, define employee rights, introduce culture, and create transparency across the company with a handbook. A staff handbook is not only an onboarding tool for employees, but also a support tool for everyone.

We prefer ‘staff’ handbooks as it can cover a wide range of ‘employed’ individuals, from full-time employee, contractor, co-op student, or CEO, even volunteers in non-profit organizations.

Handbooks outline organizational mission, culture and provide important details on policies, practices and on and responsibilities of employees and management. Valuable information is captured in one location to simplify HR and provide clarity to employees and the organization. Handbook content varies, though they typically include things like vision, mission, history, diversity, equity and inclusion, social media, office codes of conduct, leave and vacation, social media, benefits, and much more.

Staff Handbooks should be reviewed and updated annually to continue to ensure contents reflect current practices in the organization and stay up to date with evolving employment legislation.

Regardless of your organization's size, it is important to incorporate a handbook as soon as possible. Get in touch with us and we can help you get started.