By Curt Vaniman, Benefits Advisor at GHB Insurance

Most employers set employee policies and procedures so their employees know their expectations and their business runs smoothly. But under the pressure of daily business demands, many never get around to creating an employee handbook.

Creating and updating a handbook can be overwhelming and costly. Thus many businesses forgo the practice of maintaining an employee handbook altogether, exposing them to inefficiencies, unclear communication with employees, and the risk of liability.

An employee handbook may seem like a daunting task, but you don’t have to go it alone.  Here at GHB we have the cost and time-saving solution to get it done!

Why an Employee Handbook?

An employee handbook helps you communicate your policies and procedures with your employees and can:

• Increase efficiency.The employee handbook can save time by providing basic information about how the company works. How many of these questions do you often get?What holidays do we have off this year?
  Does overtime need to be approved in advance?
  How many days of sick leave do I get in a year?

  Time spent answering these basic questions could be alleviated by including the information in an employee handbook.

• Define your expectations. By clearly articulating standards, employees are held to like codes of conduct and the consequences for failing to meet those standards. Employees are also less likely to engage in conduct that may result in disciplinary action or even termination.

• Reduce liability. An employee handbook can minimize your risk of employment liability with clearly communicated, regulatory compliant policies that can be easily referenced.

GHB’s Valuable Tool

ThinkHR is a valuable resource that GHB Insurance provides all our employee benefits clients.

It has a one-of-a-kind Employee Handbook Builder component to build, update and customize handbooks more easily and efficiently with one simple online tool. It includes policies for all 50 states in addition to existing federal regulations.

ThinkHR resources also include: an HR Hotline, necessary HR forms, a library, training classes and other critical HR tools that come at no additional cost to our clients.

The ThinkHR Handbook Builder is the fastest, easiest path to a comprehensive, up-to-date employee handbook. It has pre-developed content, step-by-step instructions, expert commentary and online support.

Deliver a current, comprehensive, compliant handbook quickly and efficiently, without cutting corners to benefit both your business and your employees.

If you would like to know more about ThinkHR and what it can do for your business, call me at (360) 943-4500 or email at Curt@GHBInsurance.com.