Staff Handbook

This Staff Handbook template (available as a “Download Now” Word document) will allow you to communicate clearly the employment policy and employment procedures which you expect your employees to follow during their employment with your company.

Why you need a Staff Handbook form

Well-written employee handbooks are crucial for any business because they set out clearly your company’s employment policies and employment procedures for every new employee. This Staff Handbook form is available as a template that you can easily customize for your company. All you need to do is download it and insert the relevant names where marked.

What is included in this Staff Handbook template

The employment policies included within our Staff Handbook template are as follows: 1: Equal Opportunities Policy It's important that employees understand what is deemed to be acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in relation to equal opportunities. If your business did have a claim of discrimination against it, having an equal opportunity policy that was used by the company could be used as part of the defence against the claim. 2: Health and Safety Policy All businesses with five or more employees are legally required to have a written statement of the general policy in relation to health and safety. The health and safety policy in this Staff Handbook download meets those requirements. You might want to add in additional sections to this Staff Handbook form to reflect any hazardous activities within your business. 3: Staff Drug and Alcohol Policy The employment policy in this Staff Handbook download is particularly important if your business is going to carry out random testing of employees in relation to drugs and alcohol. Without a written drugs and alcohol staff policy it might be difficult for a company to insist that an employee participates in any drug or alcohol testing arrangements. 4: Staff Email and Internet Policy This is an area of increasing concern for businesses, with various surveys revealing that some employees do misuse the email and internet systems at work. If you want your business to monitor your staff activities, there must be a written agreement in place, and this employment policy in the employee handbook meets those requirements. 5: Data Protection Policy A business is legally required to have arrangements in place to ensure the safe storage and processing of data in line with GDPR. The data protection policy in this employee handbook includes a data consent form that employees should sign to indicate their agreement with the arrangements in place for data processing. 6: Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Parental Leave Policy There is comprehensive legislation covering all four areas of staff leave addressed in this employment policy. Companies must be sure that they follow the requirements of the law, and this section sets out a process for addressing each employment leave issue lawfully. 7: Staff Flexible Working Policy This Flexible Working Policy allows all employees to ask for flexible working and not just carers. Following this flexible working policy will ensure that your business adheres to the requirements of employment law. 8: Staff Sickness Absence Policy Employee absence can be a significant cost to a business. If employees know that sickness absence is being carefully monitored and managed, absence rates are likely to reduce, producing cost savings. The staff sickness absence policy sets out a process for managing staff absence which is fair to the employee and also meets the needs of your business. 9: Whistleblowing Policy This employment policy sets out the actions that staff should follow if they consider that something unlawful or inappropriate is happening in your business. The staff policy emphasises that the first step should be to attempt to address this within the company, but if this does not resolve the problem external bodies might need to become involved. 10: Disciplinary and Dismissal Procedure Within two months of the employee starting employment, the employer should write to the employee within a Written Statement of Initial Employment Particulars. Details of disciplinary rules should be contained within that statement. Having this dismissal and disciplinary procedure within the Staff Handbook, and referring to that within the written statement, meets your employment law requirements as the employer. 11: Grievance Procedure As an employer, you are also required to detail the grievance procedure to employees within two months of the employee starting employment. This grievance procedure meets those legal requirements. 12: Redundancy Procedure Although businesses hope that they will be able to avoid redundancies, they are an unfortunate fact of company life. Employment law sets out clear rules on the redundancy procedure that should be followed when managing redundancies. Following the redundancy procedure within this employee handbook will ensure that the employment law requirements are met.

Flexible Staff Handbook download

This Staff Handbook download will allow you to quickly and simply address all of the areas outlined above and you can be assured that you are using tried and tested terms to describe your staff policy without falling foul of employment law. Where there are areas in which many companies appreciate flexibility (e.g. retirement and holiday) our Staff Handbook form offers you clear advice on completing these sections yourself. This way you have the flexibility to produce the employment policy that is right for your business with the minimal fuss.

Other information

• Why your company needs an employee handbook
• What to include in the handbook
• How to handle staff absences due to travel disruption