Employee Handbooks

What is an Employee Handbook?

An employee or staff handbook is a document that sets out all the rules, policies, procedures and other information that may relate to the workplace from time to time, and which are not typically included in an employment contract.

An employer must ensure that such a handbook is sufficiently detailed, yet clear and easy to understand, for an employee to have a full understanding of his rights and duties at the workplace.

Staff handbooks are typically created by employers on a non-contractual basis, reserving the right for employers to unilaterally revise, adjust and adapt staff handbooks in line with their exigencies and requirements from time to time, but in compliance with their statutory duties and respect for employee rights.

Another common feature of employee handbooks is that such documents tend to present a flexible policy framework that may be changed, adapted or even disapplied by the employer in certain predefined cases, but always within the limits of the applicable law.

Ultimately, a staff handbook gives the employer an opportunity to set out certain policies, standards and procedures that its employees will be expected to follow, and which the employer may not realistically include in an employment contract. The staff handbook should be the employee’s principal reference document that complements his employment contract, by providing guidance to the employee on his expected conduct at the workplace as well as his entitlements as an employee.

Legal Status of Staff Handbooks

A staff handbook should be drafted in such a manner as to give maximum flexibility to the employer to make any adjustments that may be required to suit the employer’s business and workplace realities from time to time, without breaching any employment contract and always within the parameters permitted by applicable law.

The employer should also consider situations in which it may want to reserve any entitlement to unilaterally depart from any policy or rule that may be set out in the staff handbook, without requesting the employee’s prior consent. At the same time, the staff handbook should balance the employer’s flexibility and business requirements with a respect of its employees’ rights and entitlements as may arise from the contract of employment and also in terms of applicable law.