Not Having a Handbook, New Manager Being Stubborn & Timecard Review

Welcome back to another edition of HR Basecamp Roundup! This week, we tackle some interesting and common issues that come up in workplaces more often than you think. If you haven’t joined our HR Basecamp Facebook group yet, be sure to join so you can participate in these discussions in real time! 

 

Podcasts and Resources in this Roundup (it’s a packed one):

 

Instead of an employee handbook, I have quarterly meetings with my staff to review our policies and introduce any new policies or changes to existing policies. I like this because it brings the team together and everyone can ask questions at once. However, my new office manager says not having a handbook is confusing and could actually be risky. Is it really necessary? I haven’t run into any issues so far and I’ve been using this method since I opened my business.

The legal side of things: Your Office Manager is showing she knows what she’s doing, is giving you real-time feedback about the HR effectiveness of quarterly meetings, and she’s correct about not having a book being risky – not having a properly written handbook readily available to all employees, with all of your policies, can put you at risk and cause lots of extra work for your Office Manager and yourself. When an employee comes on board, your absolute best practice should be to have them read and acknowledge your employee handbook policies before they start work.

By doing so, all the essential protections you gain from the policies and what they need to know, policy-wise, happen on day one. Onboarding Step 1: fill out your tax paperwork, Step 2: read the employee handbook, ask questions, and sign.

Question one is, “is it required?” While no federal or state laws mandate that employers have an employee handbook per se, many state laws require specific policies to be distributed to employees. With that, consolidating everything into one place just makes sense. 

The next question often asked is, “can’t I just grab something off the internet or from another practice and use it to do it myself? Wouldn’t that save me money and time?”

If you commit to an employee handbook, from a compliance point of view, we cannot stress enough how important it is not to attempt to DIY your handbook or use a friend or colleague’s. You don’t know this yet, but your policies can protect you and be beneficial in ways that we don’t have space to include here. The laws that apply to each business change drastically from state to state, city to city, and are also affected by the number of employees you have.

On top of that, because you can not possibly be trained in employment law to the degree that you can possibly identify that someone else’s policies are correct, it is very easy to borrow someone else’s mistakes.  All DIY handbooks include policies that many employers may think sound perfectly fine when, in fact, they are illegal (“compensation and salary are confidential” policy, anyone?)

The last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time on your DIY handbook, only to miss a key policy or borrow or insert illegal policies.

You must be able to use your policies to fend off legal threats or to use them in something like an Unemployment Benefits hearing, and you will always be asked two questions. Was the employee aware of the policy? Can you prove it? 

Now for the human approach: Not only is an employee handbook an essential part of complying with employment laws and risk avoidance, but it’s also important for company culture and saving you time. Your handbook introduces new employees to your business. It gives them an idea of your priorities, how to handle issues as they arise, how employees are expected to behave, and what they can expect from you daily. 

While we love your existing practice of checking in with your team quarterly to discuss the business and any new policies, if you only disclose and/or discuss policies at quarterly meetings, you can end up with an employee waiting months to find out what you expect of them. This leaves your new employee without any guidance and leaves your business open to risk because a policy that is not communicated and acknowledged might as well not exist.

From a management perspective, having your policies in a handbook that employees can reference at any time makes it easier to field questions and, equally important for saving time, enables them to self-service many of their most common questions. Instead of explaining your holiday pay policies 10 different times, you can simply direct employees to the time off section of your handbook. 

It’s also helpful for handling policy violations. Without something in writing that the employees can access, it’s much harder to tell them they violated a policy. Where is the proof? An employee can easily say you never informed them of the policy or that they didn’t know it applied to their specific situation. Handbook policies give them a solid reference point.

The latest episode of What the Hell Just Happened?! covers this exact topic. You can listen here or wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

Extra Credit Reading: Borrowing Employee Handbook Policies Is a Bad Idea

One of my employees recently moved into a management role. Part of this role’s responsibility is to attend monthly management meetings to discuss complex issues and brainstorm solutions. This new manager doesn’t want to participate in these meetings. They say that they understand their department the best and can handle things on their own. I know this will backfire and lead to mistakes because their workload is too high. Plus, it discourages collaboration, which I believe is a key element to a great team. How can I get this point across to them?

The legal side of things: There aren’t laws that say any employee is required to collaborate. A manager who attempts to disconnect, who believes they have nothing to gain or contribute to being in meetings with the owner and other managers, is a legal liability. 

As you pointed out, collaborative discussions can prevent minor issues from escalating and, therefore, help avoid the potential for any legal issues. This is particularly true when someone is new to being a manager. They don’t know what they don’t know.

This means that they may approach issues on their team in a way that results in more significant problems that could have been avoided had they accepted getting feedback from their peers. All new leaders need mentorship, and part fo that experience should come from all your team members and not just other managers.

Now for the human approach and an answer to your question: You want self-efficacy thinking from a manager. You need them to believe they can perform well and be effective managers, but misplaced confidence and ego will get them and you in trouble. You’re dealing with an employee who thinks they can do everything themselves and do it better than others. As you said, this blocks collaboration and can harm team morale. 

We hope you have given your new manager a job description that includes skills such as collaborating with others. The description should also inform them that they must attend management meetings. It should also require them to understand their obligations to document things properly and to enforce your policies and wishes in a manner that aligns with your goals. 

This next part is all about your leadership skills. Your goal with any new manager is to guide their understanding of what is expected of them and how they can contribute to the greater good. “When you are not in meetings, not only do you miss out on opportunities to learn from others, but you also deprive everyone else of any contributions you can make and help us solve problems.”  Followed by setting an expectation that they attend all meetings and contribute when appropriate. 

Expecting them to attend meetings and letting them know why and what you expect is okay, and it is critical to their success. Tell them that!

If you have someone resisting doing the right thing, check out this complimentary guide!

We don’t have an HR department so it falls on me as the owner to review timecards each pay period and it takes up a lot of time. I’d like to switch all of my staff to salary so they don’t have to track their hours and this will free up a good chunk of time for me each month. Do they have to approve this change? 

The legal side of things: Stop! Do not pass go!

Unfortunately, many employers believe that simply paying an employee a salary automatically exempts them from tracking their time and paying overtime—i.e., they don’t have to track hours or be paid overtime simply because the employee is paid a fixed amount each week without concern for hours worked. The federal law of the land for figuring this out and most all other employee pay rules is called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Note that some state laws enforce even stricter classification requirements. We are going to give you a link to another article that explains the term classification and more on the subject of salaries below.

Your question requires us to examine two terms within the FLSA: exempt and non-exempt. Non-exempt classification means that regardless of the way you pay them,  workers must be paid overtime based on their duties and position. And that applies whether you pay them hourly or a fixed salary. So, since your employees’ non-exempt status remains the same, you are still required to track their hours. If they work more than 40 hours in any given week, even if it’s just 10 minutes, you must still pay overtime. 

If the problem you are trying to solve is not to have to track, keep up with hours, and approve them, salary is not the solution. This is especially true if your employees occasionally work more than 40 hours in any given week. 

To recap, you can pay your employees in a way that isn’t hourly. It’s called Non-exempt salary.  However, your (FLSA) obligations won’t change. This means that, amongst other things, you still have to track time worked, make sure everyone is paid at least minimum wage, and pay overtime whenever it’s earned.

Now for the human approach: It sounds like the issue here is not your employees’ status but your bandwidth as an owner managing a business. This is entirely understandable. We also want to point out that your time, both as a clinician and when you are pulled into administrative tasks, is valuable. Can we add that your free time should also be valuable to you too? We have met zero doctors once they have given up payroll to a team member who pined for the day when they had to chase down employees, enter data, run timekeeping, and then payroll.

You have a couple of options, and we suggest you consider leveraging both. Option one is to get yourself out of running payroll by assigning or hiring someone else to do it. Option two is to use a system that significantly reduces the time spent on payroll tasks, regardless of who is doing the work.

If it’s within your budget, now might be the time to start looking to expand your team and hire someone who can take on an HR-type of role. HR is a lot of work. Handling it all yourself can lead to burnout and costly mistakes, especially if you have a lot of employees. 

In the same vein, we recommend working with a trusted timekeeping company if you aren’t already. An efficient timekeeping system that works for you can make a world of difference. In the meantime, you may want to take stock of the tasks that you’re managing and consider delegating some to other managers. 

Extra Credit Reading: Exempt or Non-Exempt: Getting Employee Classification Right 

COMPLIMENTARY EXEMPT  VS. NON-EXEMPT COURSE FOR CEDR MEMBERS!

Jan 17, 2025

Friendly Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and is not intended to provide legal advice or replace individual guidance about a specific issue with an attorney or HR expert. The information on this page is general human resources guidance based on applicable local, state and/or federal U.S. employment law that is believed to be current as of the date of publication. Note that CEDR is not a law firm, and as the law is always changing, you should consult with a qualified attorney or HR expert who is familiar with all of the facts of your situation before making a decision about any human resources or employment law matter.

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