Staff handbook and policies

There are some HR policies and procedures that you need to provide to your staff when they join your business and others that it is best practice for you to put in place.

You should use this template both to create employment policies when you take on your first staff, and to develop further policies as your business grows.

You can use it whether or not you want to create an entire staff handbook from scratch or individual policies to add to what you already have in place.

Remember that you’ll need to keep your handbook and policies up-to-date with any changes to the law, so make sure you keep them under review.

This document allows you to create all of the HR policies that your business is legally required to have in place, including:

1. A health and safety policy;
2. Data protection and privacy information;
3. Policies setting out your grievances and disciplinary procedures; and
4. Policies about sickness absence and holiday.

This document also allows you to create other HR policies that might be suitable for your business, such as:

1. Family friendly policies;
2. Policies about staff behaviour, including in relation to bullying and harassment, social media and smoking, drugs and alcohol;
3. Policies about flexi-working, including working from home; and
4. Policies relating to anti-bribery compliance and whistleblowing.

You can customise this template to either create a full staff handbook containing your desired policies, or individual policies to suit your needs.

If you employ anyone, it’s a legal requirement that you provide them with written details about some of your HR policies and procedures. This document will help you to create those policies to give to your staff when they join your business.

There are other HR policies that it’s considered best practice for your business to put in place, which can also give your business extra protections. This document can help you to create additional policies that you feel are suitable and desirable for your business.

It’s not essential for you to create an entire staff handbook, but it can help to streamline your HR if all of your policies are in one place. This template gives you the option to do that.

If created as a handbook, this template also includes wording to protect your business if it chooses to update its policies from time to time. See Staff handbook for further guidance about when this is permitted.

If you want to know read more about staff handbooks, see our guidance about them here.

If you want to find out more about different HR policies, including those which are a legal requirement and others that you might want to consider creating, see our guidance on HR policies.

If you’re taking on staff for the first time, we’ve also got extensive guidance on hiring staff to help to guide you through the process, including what personnel systems you will need to set up.