Customer Reviews

Design Your Own Effective Employee Handbook: How to Make the Most of Your Staff With Companion CD-ROM

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Michelle Devon's DESIGN YOUR OWN EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK: HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR STAFF comes with a companion cd-rom and provides a basic instruction manual to producing an employee handbook. While the cd-rom makes it easy to just fill in the blanks with company-specific information and policies, the book does a fine job of considering the ramifications of an employee handbook, from legal considerations to difficult subjects such as safety and harassment, drug testing, reduction in wages, and more.

As a small business owner, I appreciated the direct, instructional approach of this guide. Every business should have an effective employee handbook, but after receiving quotes for hundreds and even thousands of dollars to have one written for my staff, I decided to go it alone. I was still afraid that it would take me weeks to accomplish, but after reading Design Your Own Effective Employee Handbook I actually had mine finished within a week.

This guide contains every last helpful tip and important consideration you need to know before writing your own employee handbook. My staff now refer to it often, which has saved me a lot of time in training and answering questions - I now just send them to "The Book"! Devon's guide is well organized and easy to read, which is a good thing, since I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to sift through things I didn't need to know. Her guide walked me through the planning, writing and polishing stages from start to finish; what I ended up with was a comprehensive guide including everything from legalities and a code of conduct, to a new "no tolerance" policy - things I could not have written on my own. I saved a good deal of time and money in using Devon's book to guide me through the writing of my own employee handbook, which is why I believe it's a must-have for any business owner.

Devon's book provides a detailed guide for creating a company handbook that will both serve your employees as well as protect the company. She provides example handbooks as well as a pre-written template where most of the work is already completed for you. The book explains which policies to include in your handbook (such as employment "at-will", work hours and break policies, reward and recognition policies, how to handle nepotism, etc). It also explains what you should and should not state in your handbook to help you avoid legal conflicts. There are many sections which are useful, but I think the most important aspect of this book is that it gets you thinking about how to create your handbook and how to avoid potential employee relation problems in the future. It also helps inspire you to really figure out what your policies are and what you want them to be and then helps you put them in place. If you want to create an employee handbook, this book contains all the information you would need to complete the task.

This is a thorough and well-written book that would work well for the small to midsize business with a small or no HR department. It's loaded with sample forms and tips on creating a personnel handbook and step-by-step instructions on formatting, printing and updating it. There is a virtual plethora of pre-worded phrases, paragraphs, policies, letters, etc., as well as, possible reasons for including or eliminating certain portions.

The author even included a few sample personnel handbooks in their entirety. One merely needs to substitute one's own business info, as well as state and local specifics to make it your own customized handbook. The author also recommended you consult with an attorney regarding legal specifics and ramifications. Overall, it's like having a mini HR department you can "file away" in your bookcase at the end of the day.

If you've ever tried to organize all the employee information from within a company then you have some idea of what type of job this snowballs into. There is so much material that needs to researched, compiled and organized and properly written that most people don't even want to think about the review process and getting final approval. And just when you think you have it all, you realize there are sections you've completely forgotten about.
This book leads you step-by-step through the process. It starts of with an excellent section on how to use the guide effectively. It then leads you through each of the major steps in the process. Comprehensive chapters cover every aspect of employee information, employee classifications and even a twenty page chapter on working hours.
The author was meticulous with details and generous with samples. She's included many sample forms, covering everything from Welcome to the company forms, Sample Time Sheets to Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Forms.
If you're in a position where you're wondering if your company needs an employee handbook and you're trying to figure out what to include and how to handle certain aspects, then look no more. This book has it all.

A comprehensive tool for ensuring the success of an existing or new business, "Design Your Own Effective Employee Handbook: How to Make the Most of Your Staff-With Companion CD ROM" written by Michelle Devon is the new must have book for human resources professionals. This book with its detailed explanations, examples, informative websites, worksheets and CD Rom with templates make it very easy for a person to create their own handbook from the very beginning. It recognizes the fact that all employees regardless of their level are an essential resource for the business and their input is important in creating a productive workplace environment.
The author provides you with as many possible situations or areas that may need to be included in the employee handbook. However, she also stresses the fact that not everything has been included since it is not every situation that may arise in every business. It is necessary to understand the nature of the business that one is doing in order to incorporate the policies, rules and regulations for that specific "corporate culture". Providing an employee with all the pertinent information offers the business legal protection as well as ensures that the employee knows the mission and values of the founder and the company. It sets a precedent that everyone can follow and leaves no room for ambiguity. This book is definitely one that I would recommend for any one who is thinking about operating their own small business and is considering hiring a workforce, whether it is one person or fifty.

The book was very helpful. I think it is most helpful for small businesses.