Employee Handbook Template: What to Include

An employee handbook template should cover your welcome and at-will statement, equal employment and anti-harassment policies, pay and timekeeping rules, work hours and attendance, paid time off and leave, benefits, workplace conduct, technology and confidentiality, safety, discipline and complaints, and a signed acknowledgment. No federal law requires a handbook, but many required policies have to be in writing somewhere, and a handbook is the cleanest place to keep them.

For a small business, the handbook does two jobs. It tells employees how things work so you do not have to answer the same questions repeatedly, and it documents that you communicated your rules consistently, which matters if a dispute ever reaches a lawyer or agency. This guide lists every section, explains which policies the law requires, shows an example, and points out the wording that gets employers into trouble.

Employee handbook sections: what to include

Section	Typical contents	Priority
Welcome and purpose	Company history, mission, how to use the handbook	Recommended
Employment basics	At-will statement, employee classifications, introductory period	Essential
Equal opportunity and anti-harassment	Non-discrimination, harassment definitions, reporting channels, no retaliation, accommodations	Essential
Pay and timekeeping	Paydays, overtime, recording hours, meal and rest breaks, payroll errors	Essential
Work hours and attendance	Schedules, remote work, tardiness, call-in procedures	Essential
Time off and leave	Vacation/PTO, sick leave, holidays, FMLA and state leave, jury duty, voting, military leave	Essential; partly legally required
Benefits	Health, retirement, eligibility, reference to plan documents	Recommended
Conduct	Standards of conduct, conflicts of interest, drugs and alcohol, dress code	Essential
Technology and confidentiality	Devices, email, privacy expectations, social media, confidential information	Essential
Expenses and travel	What is reimbursable, how to submit receipts, mileage	Recommended
Safety and security	Accident reporting, workplace violence, emergencies	Essential
Discipline, complaints and separation	Complaint procedure, discipline approach, resignation notice, final pay, return of property	Essential
Acknowledgment	Signed receipt and at-will confirmation	Essential

Policies required by law

Which policies are mandatory depends on your headcount and location. Common triggers include:

• FMLA (50 or more employees). Covered employers that have a handbook or other written guidance about benefits or leave must include information about FMLA rights in it.
• Anti-discrimination laws. Federal laws generally apply from 15 employees (Title VII, ADA, Pregnant Workers Fairness Act) or 20 (age discrimination), but many states apply similar laws to employers with just one employee. A written anti-harassment policy with a reporting procedure is a key defense, and some states require one or mandate training.
• Paid sick leave. A growing number of states and cities require paid sick leave and written notice of employees' rights. California, for example, requires at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave per year.
• Meal and rest breaks, final pay and pay frequency. These are set by state law and should be described accurately.
• Labor law posters. Required federal and state notices must be displayed or provided electronically to remote staff; the handbook does not replace them.

Wording that keeps your handbook safe

At-will disclaimer

Example: "Employment with [Company] is at will. You or the company may end employment at any time, with or without cause or notice. Nothing in this handbook creates a contract of employment or a promise of employment for any specific period. Only the company owner may make an agreement to the contrary, and only in a signed writing."

Right to change policies

Example: "The company may revise, add or remove policies at any time. We will notify employees of material changes. Where a policy in this handbook conflicts with applicable law, the law governs."

Workplace rules and employee rights

Broad rules on confidentiality, social media, recording or speaking to the media can violate federal labor law if they would discourage employees from discussing pay and working conditions, and that applies whether or not you have a union. Under the National Labor Relations Board's 2023 Stericycle standard, the Board looks at whether a rule could reasonably be read to chill those rights. The Board's General Counsel has asked it to overturn that decision, but as this Fisher Phillips analysis advises, employers should keep following it until a new standard is formally adopted. Write narrow rules tied to a clear business reason and add a statement that nothing in the handbook limits employees' rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Worked example: a 12-person landscaping company

An illustrative company has 12 employees in one state: 10 hourly crew members and 2 salaried office staff. Its handbook outline might be:

1. Welcome and at-will statement (1 page)
2. Equal opportunity, anti-harassment and complaint procedure (3 pages)
3. Pay, overtime and timekeeping, including daily clock-in on the crew app and approval of timesheets each Friday (3 pages)
4. Paid time off: 1 hour of PTO for every 30 hours worked, which gives a full-time employee working 2,080 hours about 69 hours (8.7 days) a year, plus state-required sick leave (2 pages)
5. Safety: equipment training, personal protective equipment, heat illness and injury reporting (4 pages)
6. Vehicles and equipment: who may drive company trucks, phone use while driving, fuel cards (2 pages)
7. Expenses: submit receipts within 30 days on an expense report, with personal-vehicle miles logged on a mileage log (1 page)
8. Conduct, drugs and alcohol, and discipline (3 pages)
9. Separation, final pay and returning equipment (1 page)
10. Acknowledgment form (1 page)

That is about 21 pages, focused on the issues this business actually faces. A reimbursement policy that requires receipts and timely submission also supports an accountable plan, so reimbursements are not taxable wages to employees.

How to create your handbook, step by step

1. List your current practices. Paydays, PTO, schedules, expense rules: write down what you already do.
2. Identify legal requirements for your headcount and every state where employees work.
3. Draft from a template, deleting anything that does not apply to you.
4. Write plainly. Use short sentences and examples. Translate it if many employees read another language better.
5. Have an employment lawyer review it once, especially the leave, pay and conduct sections.
6. Distribute and collect acknowledgments, including from new hires during onboarding alongside their offer letter.
7. Train managers so they apply the policies consistently.
8. Review annually and whenever laws or your headcount change.

For broader setup, see hiring your first employee and how to do payroll yourself.

Sample policy: timekeeping and overtime

Here is a short example of the plain, specific style that works well in a small business handbook:

"Non-exempt employees must record all time worked, including start and end times and meal breaks, using the company timekeeping app. Do not work off the clock, including answering calls or emails outside your scheduled hours, unless you record that time. Overtime must be approved in advance by your manager, but all overtime worked will be paid, whether or not it was approved. Repeatedly working unapproved overtime may lead to discipline. If you believe your pay is incorrect, tell [name or role] immediately so it can be corrected on the next payroll."

Notice what this does: it requires accurate records, makes clear that all hours worked are paid, controls overtime through discipline rather than by refusing to pay, and gives a channel for reporting payroll errors. Each of those points reduces wage-and-hour risk.

Rolling out a handbook to existing employees

• Hold a short meeting to walk through the main sections and any changes from past practice.
• Give people time to read it and a contact for questions before you ask for signatures.
• Collect signed acknowledgments, electronically or on paper, and file them.
• Make it easy to find: a shared drive, intranet page or printed copy in the break room.
• Grandfather carefully. If you are reducing a benefit, such as PTO, check state law on accrued balances and give clear notice before the change takes effect.

When you later update a policy, circulate a dated summary of what changed and collect a new acknowledgment for significant revisions.

Common handbook mistakes

• Copying a big-company handbook with benefits and procedures you do not offer.
• Promising progressive discipline in every case, which limits your flexibility.
• Use-it-or-lose-it PTO rules in states that treat earned vacation as wages that cannot be forfeited.
• Ignoring remote employees in other states whose laws differ.
• Not following your own policies. Inconsistent enforcement is evidence in discrimination claims.
• Never updating it. An outdated leave policy can be worse than none.

This is general information, not legal advice. Have an employment attorney or HR professional review your handbook for your state and size.

Handbook vs SOPs

A handbook explains employment policies; it should not try to document how to do each job. Keep job procedures, such as how to quote a project, prepare an invoice or close out a job, in separate operating procedures that you can update without reissuing the handbook. Keeping the two apart also keeps the handbook short enough that employees actually read it, while the procedures stay detailed enough to train new hires. Reference the procedures from the handbook where useful, for example "follow the job closeout checklist for every completed project," without copying the steps into the policy itself.

Policies keep your team running; invoices keep your cash flowing. Create client invoices with our free invoice generator, with no sign-up required, and download each one as a PDF.