Top 10 Employee Handbook Mistakes

You might not pay a lot of attention to the how the policies in your employee handbook are written. But you should.

Written correctly, employee handbooks can provide valuable information that enhances the working environment and protect the employer legally by setting clear expectations and standards. If written incorrectly, employee handbooks can do more harm than good.

To help show employers what mistakes to avoid when drafting policies for employee handbooks, CalChamber presents a new white paper detailing the top 10 employee handbook mistakes made by employers, including:

• Failing to comprehensively explain compensation and vacation policies
• Improperly worded harassment prevention policies
• Potentially illegal policies on accessing personal e-mail, the Internet and other modes of electronic communication during the workday

Download your free copy of the Top 10 Employee Handbook Mistakes to make sure your employee handbook is compliant.* Registration is required for this download. CalChamber members can download the white paper without registration.

Erika Frank, CalChamber General Counsel and employment law expert

* CalChamber's 2011 Employee Handbook Software can help you easily create a handbook that complies with federal and state laws. 

Love in the Office

It’s Valentine’s Day and romance is in the air ... and in the workplace. According to Vault.com’s annual Office Romance Survey, 59 percent of survey respondents said they participated in some form of office romance at some point during their career.

Employers can take action to try and keep office romance from interfering with business by creating and enforcing workplace policies and understanding the risks of employee fraternization.

“Good economy or bad economy, we spend more than half of our day at work. And those same colleagues are often invited to socialize after work, creating opportunities to blur from professional to personal,” said Jason Levin, a career expert at Vault.com. “Whether that’s OK or not depends on the people involved. Your reputation in and out of the office could be in serious jeopardy depending on how each party handles the end of the relationship. Those involved need to go into this type of relationship with both “eyes open,” knowing the risks and having a plan to deal with an office romance if it goes sour.”

Respondents discussed their office romance – the outcome, the impact and whether they would enter into a relationship with a co-worker – and details about workplace trysts, cheating co-workers, supervisor-subordinate relationships and the controversy around whether office romances created unfair favoritism. 

The survey asked various questions of the respondents, including:

Have you ever participated in an office romance?

No - 41 percent

Yes - 59 percent

If so, what type(s)? Respondents could pick more than one answer to this question.

Random office hookup -  28 percent

Ongoing but casual relationship - 29 percent

Long-term, serious relationship - 24 percent

I met my spouse/partner at work - 15 percent

Other - 3 percent

Based on your previous experience in an office romance, would you participate in one again?

Yes - 63 percent

No - 37 percent

Does your company have a policy regarding intra-office relationships?

Not sure - 41 percent

No - 36 percent

Yes - 22 percent

Vault conducted its Office Romance Survey in January 2011. The full survey includes responses from 2,083 employees representing various industries across the United States, split almost equally among gender and age lines, although slightly skewed toward 25-30 year olds.

Some of the risks in office relationships include the potential for harassment claims and fairness issues if the relationship involves supervisors and subordinates. It's important to comply with AB 1825’s training rules for supervisors, which requires 2-hour harassment training for supervisors every two years. CalChamber offers harassment training courses for both supervisors  and employees.

CalChamber members can ask employees who engage in consensual workplace relationships to sign a Consensual Relationship Agreement to ensure all policies are reviewed and the company is advised of the relationship.

Not a CalChamber member? Test-drive HRCalifornia with a 15-day Free Trial.

SHRM Fun: Employee Handbooks, California HR Trends, and Social Media

Well, tonight concludes a session-packed day at the Society for Human Resource Management conference. The morning started with a speech by Al Gore about sustainability as a good business practice. I then took in sessions related to employee handbooks, California HR trends, and Social Media.

Allan H. Weitzman spoke this morning about how to draft employee handbooks. Of course, HRCalifornia offers extensive information on creating Employee Handbooks, and I was happy to hear that the speaker, a Florida attorney, recognized that California is a special state for employers. Navigating the legal intricacies involved with employee handbooks is tricky business! The real take-away from that session was that employee handbooks are not contracts--at least, they should not be. They should include appropriate disclaimers and language to that effect. Of course, the "no contract" rule works both ways. Employers that try to legally enforce provisions (such as confidentiality clauses) in an employee handbook will generally be out of luck.

By the way, if you want to easily create a handbook that complies with California law, check out CalBizCentral's employee handbook software.

Next, Javier Lozano spoke about California HR trends and their business implications. He talked about California's aging workforce. Baby boomers are expected to retire soon, and companies should be seriously thinking about succession planning. The recession gave lots of companies a "retirement" cushion because a significant number of employees delayed their retirement, but as the economy recovers, many of these employees will leave. Companies that aren't planning for this shift may find themselves struggling to fill crucial positions.

In the afternoon, Jason B. Morris, who owns an employee screening firm, talked about social networking sites and background checks. We've already covered much of the information he presented in our social media white paper, but two issues he raised that I think are important to mention are the rising use of diploma and employment mills. Diploma mills are essentially organizations that (for a fee) "award" diplomas or degrees with little to no academic study. Often, these diploma mills offer verification of the degree, making them difficult to discover without some serious Internet sleuthing. Similarly, employment mills offer employment "verification" services so that candidates can beef up their resumes. It's important that background checks account for these diploma and employment mills.

The United States Department of Education offers an accreditation database, which is a good start for HR professionals trying to verify whether an educational institution is legitimate. Of course, there are legitimate educational institutions that do not have accreditation, so hiring authorities should not jump to the conclusion that an institution not on the list is a diploma mill. The accreditation database is a good initial resource, but it's just a start. You will have to do some more digging if an institution is not listed.

Olympics Slowing You Down?

Thousands of hours of Olympics coverage are available streaming online, 24 hours a day. Since Olympic television coverage does not begin until late evening and ends in the middle of the night, employees may choose to get their Olympics event update online - at work.

Does your company have a policy on use of company property - especially computers and the Internet? If so, what does it say and how do your supervisors and managers enforce it? If you allow employees to use computers to do thing such as, watch Olympics coverage online, what are the parameters - only during breaks, before and/or after shifts? If you don't allow employees to use computers for personal use at any time, is this policy consistently enforced?

Issues to Consider:

• Has your IT department been consulted to determine what, if any, bandwidth your servers have for employees to stream online video?
  • Not only does an employee watching the Olympics impact his productivity, but lack of bandwidth slows everyone else down.
• If your policy tells employees that streaming is forbidden, put your IT folks on notice that you need to know who is violating this policy and discipline accordingly (and consistently).
• It is not just the watching of Olympics that slows things down, it's the water cooler chats. If employees are distracted, remind supervisors and managers to keep people focused.
• Avoid the office pools and other gambling type activities - it is a violation of the Civil Code and exposes your company to liability.

Spring Forward - Daylight Saving Time

Sunday, March 9 at 2:00 a.m., we "spring" forward one hour. When Daylight Saving Time (DST) was enacted in the early 20^th Century, 2:00 a.m. was chosen because the change at that time would cause minimal disruption. However, in the era of computers and global communication, businesses can experience practical issues when the clocks change over. But, DST can also be a good time for employers to review safety and other protocol.

Just like you should change your smoke detector batteries at home, you should review your Injury Illness Prevention Plan and Employee Handbooks to make sure they are up to date. Check fire extinguishers and other workplace items that have expiration dates to verify they are still usable.

Do companies have traditions that they implement using DST as a reminder?