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 precodures. 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.
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