Many employers make changes to their corporate employee policies over time but neglect to update their policy manuals or notify workers. Not only is this a bad business practice; it can also leave a company exposed to liability, depending on the nature of the policy change.
Year-end is the perfect time to incorporate all policy changes (including any from previous years that were not incorporated) into the employee handbook. Depending on the extent of the changes, employers can either publish a new, dated version of the policy handbook, or they can publish dated “update sheets” to be inserted into the handbook.
Regardless of the approach chosen, a company official should be charged with ensuring all personnel receive the new information and sign a statement that they read and understood it. Then, all “sign-offs” should be archived, with the date and volume number of the handbook recorded, with other personnel records.