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    How to Make a Great Employee Handbook

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    9741630-sml4Putting together an employee handbook for your company is an important task, and is best done as a team effort. Here are some tips on how to create a great and useful handbook that covers all the bases.

    1.Collect all of the policies that are currently in place, and start to put together a Word document of them. You definitely want to get input from as many people as you can, especially managers and supervisors, but also talk to as many employees as possible and get input from them. Sometimes certain ways of dealing with situations arise among employees and between departments over time, and come to be understood as de facto policy. It is a good idea to put these in the handbook if you find them satisfactory.

    2.In order to create an employee handbook that is readable, understandable and will stand the test of time,you will need to have the handbook professionally written. If you are in a larger company, you may have a communications department or other staff that is capable of handling the task. If not, you will need to hire an outside writer.

    3.You will also need to make sure the handbook gets a going-over by a qualified attorney. Again, larger businesses may have people on staff that are qualified to do this. If not, do a search of local attorneys who specialize in workplace law. Make sure that you include all the info that your attorney suggests, and to plan a little bit for future growth as well.

    4.Important things to include in your employee handbook are: sections dealing with all forms of harassment, a clear drug and alcohol policy, and a section dealing with the proper use of all property and resources belonging to the company. You will also want to make sure that you have a system of clear steps that are to be taken for any employees that want to report instances of fraud or mistreatment, so that they can do so anonymously and without fear of retribution. They should also have a method of registering complaints that does not cause them to fear for their job safety.

    5. Though such items as dress codes, as well as attendance rules, and the various disciplinary actions your employees may face are probably already in place somewhat, it is a good idea to codify these things as much as possible in order to create a standard in black and white that is clear and fair to all. There should also be a section where you list and number the types of policies that apply to everyone in the company, such as holidays, sick and vacation days, etc.

    6.Include a section that lists and explains the benefits that your company offers. You don’t necessarily have to go into great detail here, but it is important that you give them a reasonable overview, and a list of resources such as websites where they can go to find more details if need be.

    7.Speaking of websites, it is a great idea to have the handbook accessible online, perhaps in a password protected area that is not available to the general public. Having it downloadable in PDF form is fine.

    8.Put the document together using a binding style that is both rugged and fairly editable, just in case changes need to be made over time. Three-ring binding is probably the most common, but plastic comb and spiral wire will do the job as well.

    9.Employees should read the handbook before they begin at your company, and should be required to sign a sheet of paper stating that they have read and understand the policies therein.

    If you are interested in more information about how the right Document Binding Style, can help you create a great employee handbook, you might want to visit MyBinding.com.

    How to Produce and Distribute an Office Policy Manual

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    Every business should have a readily available set of rules and regulations regarding company policy. To help with yours, we created this list of seven important things to keep in mind when you are creating a policy manual for your small or large business.

    1.Find An Existing Manual. And revise it so suit your needs. It would help to find a manual from a business that offers the same kinds of services that you do, but this is not absolutely necessary. Simply find a manual that you think you will be able to work with and start from there. There may be manuals available for purchase online that contain some basics that you can work from. Take a look around.

    2.Include Unwritten Policies. Depending on how long you have been in business, you may already have standards in place that are not written down or codified yet. You can’t go into the future imagining that these rules will stay in place, so here is your opportunity to get them down in written form.

    3.Get Legal Advice. It is absolutely essential that you have an attorney that specializes in workplace law take a look at your policy book. There are many reasons for this of course. You will want to make sure that your policies are legal, and that your bases are covered. You also want to make sure that everything that is required by law to be in your manual is there, and that you have a clearly stated policy regarding such events aw terminations and non-adherence.

    4.Organize it Well. Give your policy book a structure that everyone can understand with well-defined chapters, sections and headers. Make it easy for you employees to find that it is that they are looking for by including an index. If you have staff that travels a lot, it is a great idea to have a copy of the manual online where they can refer to is whenever they may need to.

    5.Hire a Writer or Editor.And make sure that you instruct him or her to keep the book upbeat and readable as much as possible throughout. These are people that are paid to make things clear and concise. If your company is a large one, there is the chance that many people in many different departments have contributed to the policy manual, and a good writer or editor can take all these different styles and make them flow seamlessly into a coherent whole. There are a lot of different resources for finding writers on the web. One great place to start is cragslist.org. There are also sites such a e-lance where writers and editors will bid for your particular job. There is a fee to post for some certain kinds of jobs, but it isn’t much.

    6.Choose The Right Binding Style. You will want to make sure that you can keep your manual up to date, and make amendments and other changes as necessary. Three ring binding is a natural choice for this, but is not the most durable of methods. Take a look around online or visit your local print shop and have a chat about what style will best suit your needs.

    7.Update Annually. Or whenever there is a major change to company policy. Make sure everyone’s manual, as well as the online version, reflect the changes.

    Putting Together a Great User Manual

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    B-3-16-Twin-Loop-100-3a-smA having a great user manual for your product makes your company look good, and can save money by reducing support calls. Here are a few tips for creating a fun, user-friendly product manual.

    1.Use Dead Trees. Or at least recycled ones. While a lot of companies out there are deciding to go with online-only manuals (usually in PDF form), it is worth the extra effort and cost to go to the trouble of giving your customers a hard copy. Yes, you should have a copy online as well, but there are many advantages for both you and your customer to printing and publishing a paper version. First, your customer can have the manual in hand while they are assembling the item, or investigating any problems they may be having – not always possible with a PDF (unless your customer has a laptop, or is willing to print out the manual). Second, you can be assured that all your customers have the manual in hand, meaning, long story short, fewer calls to your support team. And the more you can do to prevent support or service phone calls, the better.

    2.Make It Fun To Read. While there are plenty of customers who will only consult the manual when absolutely necessary, there are lots of others who will actually curl up with it, and read it from cover to cover. This is the audience you should be playing for. You don’t have to fill your manual full of jokes or anything, but you do need to make sure that it is written in a conversational style, that is it well organized into chapters and sections and if need be, an index so your readers can find specific items quickly and easily.

    3.Show AND Tell. People learn in three different ways – seeing, hearing, and touching. There is a segment of the population – those that learn best through hearing — that will be just fine with simple words on a page. However, you will be doing a great service to a great many more of your customers if you include detailed and specific artwork in your user manual. If you have been tracking support calls, you can make note of the most frequent issues and take special care to address them clearly in future manuals.

    4.Use Real People. If at all possible, when it comes to translating your user manual into other languages, use native speakers. Translating software is improving all the time, but it is nowhere near ready to take on a task like this with reasonable accuracy yet. You do not want to be one of those companies whose manuals get chuckled over as they are being read. That goes for highly technical language as well.

    5.Choose the Right Binding Style. The more durable and functional, the better. It is always nice when a user manual can lie flat, and/or wrap around, so your customer can read it while his or her hands are busy. Plastic comb and color coil binding are two methods that make this possible. Take a look around online for the option that might suit you best. You can even get your own binding machine, if you find yourself with the need to print a lot of manuals, presentation materials, reports, and proposals on a regular basis.

    Publish Your Own Nonfiction Book – Some Easy Steps

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    PC316BK-3-sm2Deciding to print and publish one’s own book is a big step in a writer’s life. Here are a few things to consider when you are just starting the process.

    1.Once your book is finished, you’ll need to make some decision about want you want to get out of you hard work. For instance, do you just want something nice to hand out to family and friends as gifts, or do you believe that your book is meant for a wider audience? The former, of course, makes things rather easy, as you do not need to worry about capturing the attention of the general public or interested parties within your niche. If, however, you are indeed looking to make a bigger impact, you will need to do a little research. First, you should see how many books there are already on the market that cover your topic, and how well they have sold (in a perfect world, of course, you have read most of these books anyway to ensure that you are not covering the exact same ground). This initial research should give you a reasonable assessment of how many books you should look to publish at the outset.

    2.Take a trip down to your local print shop – or have a good look around online – to check out all of the different binding styles. Most likely, you will want to do what is called “perfect binding” which creates a final product that is just like the books on your shelf right now. You can do hard or soft covers, and cost will vary depending on the paper stock yo choose and how many books you intend to print. If you plan to publish a lot of books in the future, you can purchase the binding machine yourself (the binding process is incredibly simple) and likely save money over time.

    3.Before you decide on a cover style, you can, and should, take a trip down to the local bookstore and make note of the styles, formats, and sizes that you think would be appropriate for your book. You will likely find that it is less expensive to stick to more standard sizes, but you will have to decide what is right for your book.

    4.When you are printing your pages, a great way to save time and money, as well as creating a great-looking finished product, is to use a direct-to-press printer. Long story short, instead of using any sort of film, this method transfers your computer files directly onto the printing plate. In the interest of brevity, we’re going to spare you the detailed explanations of why this is such a great method, and just say that we recommend you look into it.

    5.Search for and hire a professional and experienced designer for the cover and layout of your book. The two of you can decide on an appropriate font, create a theme and flow to the book, and, last but not least, help create a wonderfully eye-catching cover. Yes, it will cost you some extra money to get a real pro, but it will be very well worth it when it comes to the finished product.

    If you are interested in more information about how the right Document Binding Style, can help you create a great self-published book, you might want to visit MyBinding.com. They offer a great price on binding equipment and they even offer Free Shipping on orders over $75.00. Plus, they carry a full line of Binding Accessories, of all styles, types and capabilities. Check it out today!