5 employee handbook pointers for Wisconsin employers

An employee handbook is an important tool for communicating an employer’s policies, procedures, and expectations. They are particularly good for assisting HR staff with onboarding new employees. Creating a well-drafted employee handbook can be challenging, particularly because it’s easy to confuse it with employee contracts. Here are some things to remember when drafting and editing an employee handbook.

Handbook essentials

1. Employee handbooks aren’t contracts. Wisconsin, like most states, is an employment-at-will state. That means unless the employer and employee modify the at-will relationship by entering into a written employment contract, the employee is free to quit at any time, and the employer is free to dismiss the employee at any time, provided the discharge doesn’t violate state or federal law.

Therefore, if you wish to maintain an employee’s at-will employment status, don’t suggest or indicate the handbook is an employment contract. Rather, the handbook should contain a clear statement that it isn’t a contract. It’s only a guide that doesn’t alter the at-will employment status.

2. Employees should sign an acknowledgment of receiving the handbook. Although the employee handbook isn’t a contract, it typically identifies and explains important employment policies, including the bases for discipline and dismissal. In the event you dismiss an employee for violating a policy and she challenges the discharge by asserting you never gave notice about it, you can introduce the signed acknowledgment of receipt to impeach the claim.