Article Title: Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational
Improvement Tool
Author: Stephan Szugat
Contact Email: info@abenetis.com
Word Count: 802
Article URL: http://www.abenetis.com/encyclopedia.html
Format: 65 Characters per Line
Category: Business, Business Management, Organisation
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Company/Employee Handbook as Organisational Improvement Tool
A business is only able to grow as fast as the internal
organisation is able to process higher volumes of sales. But how
to get an optimal internal organisation? Well, you will need to
adapt your internal organisation over and over again. It's a never
ending story. However, a Company/Employee Handbook could assist
you to achieve the best internal business organisation.
This brings up the question, What has to be included in a
Company/Employee Handbook? Everything what has influence to your
business operation. First of all, it has to be outlined which
areas the Company/Employee Handbook will cover. As it has to do
with internal operation, here is a list of items you should
include:
- Company Background Information
(Name-Development, Foundation date and place,
History-Milestones, Vision)
- Owner and/or Manager Bios/Profiles
- Listing of Officers and Board of Directors
- Employment Roles (Job Roles, Job Descriptions)
- Description of the main products and services
(just use your marketing material)
- FAQ (about internal subjects only)
- Company timeline (What, when, where)
- Office procedures (Workflow-Information, Working Procedures)
- List of persons to know (Bank Contact, Tax Advisor, Laywer,
Main Suppliers, etc.)
- Overview of agreements (Rental, Leasing, etc.)
- Internal Policies (Dress code, Phone usage and answering,
Voice Mail Procedure, Parking, Business Cards, Drug Policy,
etc.).
The above list shows which information should be included. The
following list shows which departments should be included:
- Distribution
- Inventory/Warehouse
- Marketing (How Follow-up's are handled, Lead-Generation, etc.)
- Customer Support
- Research and Development
- Accounting
- Human Resources
- Purchase/Procurement.
The above two lists just show, how complex it could be to setup a
Company/Employee Handbook. But it don't have to be complex, just
start partial. Only include the information which are already
available and use the help of your employees. The benefits of
having a Company Handbook are numerous, your employees will save
time, it will be easier to improve procedures, because the
procedures will be broken down into small sections of the whole
procedures. Everything is clearly described, so nobody needs to
ask over and over again. In case of holiday or illness of an
employee, others could jump into the job, because they could be
trained faster.
As employer, you could hire employees with lower education. And
your employees will love it, because they know where to look,
when they have questions and they could improve their working
environment as well. But the most advantage for the owner is,
that the organisation will be able to work properly, when the
business grows and when the owner might sell the business one
day, it might get sold easier, because of the proper
organisation.
When installing a Company Handbook, you will find procedures you
could automate. Automating the operation as much as possible will
also be a big benefit, because employees and employer are able to
focus their workforce on more important topics, such as improving
the sales volume. Furthermore automatization will reduce to cost
of operation as well.
A Company/Employee Handbook is a bit like a Business Plan, but
far more detailed, because it will contain information on every
internal procedure. Only the financial part of the business plan
will not be included, but if you like you might include some
financial information you like to share with your employees. As
you describe your procedures just do it as a numeration or
listing. The description don't have to be very well formed, it's
just important that everyone who will read it, is able to
understand what has to be done.
Remember, a Company Handbook is a living system, if you and your
employees are not updating it regularly, it will be death one
day, because it will only contain old stuff. So keep all people
within your business engaged in improving the Company Handbook,
because it will improve your business internal organisation as
well. While starting to write the content of your Company
Handbook, concentrate on job roles at first, afterwards write
down job descriptions, in case a job role has been given to
employees twice (Accounting Staff, etc.). Job Roles need to
include the duties and the responsebilities of the described job.
Job Roles, Job Descriptions and Workflow-Descriptions of sepcial
procedures don't have to be the same, but take care that the
information is consistent, that means that it is written in a
stream. This way the entire Company Handbook will be of benefit
for everyone. When rereading something on your Company Handbook
and you still have questions, than the entry is not finished.
Last but not least, your Company/Employee Handbook should be
available everytime. To do this, think about an Internet or
Intranet Solution, depending on the size of your business. Keep
it simple and slim, and you will have many benefits from it. Good
Luck.
About the Author:
Stephan Szugat is founder of abenetis a web-based service about
Business Management Solutions focusing on the core needs of
business management. This includes Operational and strategic
analysis especially Early-Recognition-Systems, Knowledge-
Management and other Services for small and mid-sized businesses.
He has approx. 15 years experience in the Finance and Accounting
Area from companies of different size and from various
industries. http://www.abenetis.com
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