Employee Handbook

What is an employee handbook in Australia?

An employee handbook, also referred to as a staff handbook, is a company’s internal guide that outlines main workplace policies, discipline standards, procedures and expectations. This document serves as a practical reference for both employees and the company’s management in daily operations.

Contrary to common belief, employee handbook templates are not only for big and well-established companies. Many businesses across Australia seek to have a reliable employee handbook template, including startups, family businesses, professional services companies with small teams, and businesses operating mostly online.

In Australia staff handbooks play a significant role in maintaining high professional and employment standards in the workplace.

What should be included in the employee handbook template?

There is no mandated employee handbook format an Australian business or organisation must follow. As a general rule, an employee handbook is a large and complex document that covers various important things, including employees’ onboarding, salaries, annual and sick leave, health and safety protocols, emergencies, confidentiality, the complaint process, etc. It is common for a staff handbook to be used alongside separate policies covering drugs, usage of social media at the workplace, discrimination, etc.

Introduction

Every staff handbook starts with an introduction section in which the business explains the goals and purposes of the policy. The document should also include the business’s full name and the date on which this policy is being adopted.

General Code of Conduct

Every business and company normally has its own visions of how employees must behave at the workplace and communicate with each other and with the employer’s customers, clients and contractors. All these rules are known as a code of conduct and include standard requirements for behaviour, including:

• Follow the directions of your management and supervisors;
• Act proactively and in good faith and perform assigned tasks in a timely manner.
• Work cooperatively, and respect colleagues.
• Avoid offensive, abusive or intimidating behaviour, etc.

Complaint Process

A solid staff handbook template Australia should also describe how employees can lodge complaints. Complaints can be sent directly to an employee’s immediate supervisor or manager or escalated to the head of HR.

In this part of the document, employees should clearly understand to whom and how such a complaint can be submitted.

Breach of Staff Handbook

Once a staff handbook is acknowledged by all employees, it becomes a mandatory document. It means that employees are expected to comply with both their employment contracts and staff handbooks. Therefore, the document shall clearly outline consequences of violation of the handbook, which could be:

• a formal warning from the employer;
• a requirement to provide a verbal or written apology;
• demotion;
• suspension from work for a certain period of time;
• a cancelled promotion;
• termination of employment agreement.

Company Property

Employees may be provided with certain property necessary for the performance of job duties. Such property may include laptops, mobile phones, corporate vehicles and other equipment necessary for the job. If this is the case, an employee policy handbook sample should clarify the following:

• list of items that are provided in the possession of employees;
• procedures for returning items;
• compensation policy for lost items.

Onboarding of New Employees

Usually an employee handbook sample includes a separate section dealing with the onboarding of new employees. If the company establishes a probation period, the same should be reflected in the text of this document, including the duration and criteria for successful termination of probation.

If the onboarding of specific categories of employees requires the completion of preliminary training or introductory meetings, this information should also be provided in the present section.

Salaries

Normally, employee handbook templates do not list individual salaries. This section aims to confirm the business’s commitment to comply with the National Employment Standards and relevant enterprise or modern awards agreements.

The present section may specify the rules for annual review or increase compensation, bonus schemes, and taxation.

Applicable Policies

In some cases, especially with small businesses, an employee handbook template may also target the company’s internal policies related to:

• drugs and alcohol;
• remote work;
• social media usage;
• discrimination and harassment.

If, however, all these matters are addressed in separate HR policies, in that case there is no need to duplicate them in the text of the present document.

Why do Australian businesses need an employee handbook?

Nowadays most Australian businesses tend to have a simple employee policy handbook template, and here is why:

• The document serves as a company’s internal constitution in guiding key elements of the company’s life.
• The staff handbook helps to ensure full compliance with effective Australian laws.
• The document targets all areas of a company’s life and avoids grey areas for ambiguity.
• An employee handbook brings awareness to employees about the company’s expectations and standards.
• The template brings clarity and consistency to the workplace standards.

Full Employee Handbook Template Checklist

After the purchase of an employee handbook, there are a couple of important steps employers have to fulfil.

Read the Document

Take some time to carefully read the final document to ensure that all information is reflected correctly. Check identification details and numbers twice to prevent mistakes. If your business or company is a party to a modern award or enterprise agreement, ensure that minimum standards and guarantees provided in the final employee handbook template are not lower than those provided in the said enterprise agreements.

Approve the Document

Depending on the internal process of your business, in some cases important company documents such as staff handbooks or employee policies should be approved additionally by shareholders, the board of directors or other corporate bodies. Check the company’s document for that first. If there is no such requirement, you can proceed to the next step.

Acknowledgement of the Document

There are several possible ways to make employees acknowledge this staff handbook:

• sign a copy of the staff handbook;
• send an approved copy of the handbook to their personal working emails;
• distribute copies of the employee handbook in visible places across the office;
• publish the document on the company’s internal intranet page.

How to customise an employee handbook with FasterDraft?

To get a fully customisable document template, follow the instructions below:

1. Click the “Create Document” button.
2. Answer simple questions in the form.
3. Select a template’s format – PDF or Word.
4. Make a payment.

Your employee handbook template is ready for instant download after the purchase.