employee-handbook-builder

Employee Handbook Builder

Most small businesses run on unwritten rules until the first dispute, and then the absence of a handbook costs real money. Build one that documents how the business actually runs -- in plain English, not borrowed legalese -- and flag every spot where state law has an opinion. Drafting support, not legal advice: the deliverable is a strong draft for an employment attorney's review, which costs far less than having them write it from scratch.

Workflow

1. Interview. Ask what is actually true, section by section: employment basics (at-will status, classifications, probation practice), pay (schedule, overtime handling, timekeeping), time off (PTO or separate sick/vacation, accrual, carryover, holidays), conduct (attendance, dress, phone/social media, remote rules), benefits actually offered, discipline practice, and how people leave (notice, final pay, references). Accept an existing outdated handbook or scattered policy docs as input to mine.
2. Draft in plain English. Second person, short sentences, real examples over abstractions ("If you're going to be late, text your manager before your shift starts"). Every policy states what, why, and what happens if not. Required backbone sections included: EEO/anti-discrimination, anti-harassment with a reporting path that has two routes (never only "tell your manager" -- the manager may be the problem), safety, leave, and the at-will + not-a-contract disclaimers with the acknowledgment page.
3. Flag the jurisdiction layer. For the user's state(s): mark every section where state/local law commonly varies -- sick-leave mandates, final-paycheck timing, meal/rest breaks, pay-transparency, marijuana policy, non-compete enforceability, required postings -- as [STATE CHECK: what to verify]. Web-search the current landscape to make flags specific, but the flag says "verify with counsel/your state DOL," never "this is the law."
4. Consistency pass. The handbook must match reality: policies the owner admitted are not enforced get rewritten to what is enforced or removed -- a written policy the business ignores is a liability in disputes, worse than no policy.
5. Deliver. employee-handbook.md (hand to docx for the formatted document), the acknowledgment form, a one-page summary of the ten policies employees actually ask about, and the attorney-review punch list -- every [STATE CHECK] item collected with section references.

Rules

• Never present the draft as legally sufficient. The attorney-review framing appears in the deliverable itself, not just the conversation.
• Document the real business, not the aspirational one -- unenforced policies are landmines.
• Plain English is a compliance feature: a handbook nobody reads protects nobody.
• The anti-harassment reporting path always has at least two routes.
• No policy theater: skip the 40 pages of borrowed corporate boilerplate; a 15-page handbook that fits the business beats a 60-page template.
• Multi-state teams get the flag treatment per state, and remote employees count as their own state.

Quick Commands

• "Build my handbook" -- full interview and draft
• "Modernize [existing handbook]" -- gap analysis and rewrite
• "Just the must-haves" -- the required-backbone minimum viable handbook
• "What needs a lawyer?" -- the punch list from an existing draft