M. Jacqueline Larkin, Vaughan Baio & Partners
With some employees already having returned to their offices, now is the time employers should consider reviewing and revising their employee handbooks.
Here are three things to consider as you begin this process:
- The need to update your employee handbook applies to employers across almost all business categories – hotels/hospitality, grocery, software engineering, manufacturing, technology, pharmaceutical, and financial services, to name a few;
- Employers should stay informed about guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the COVID-19 vaccination and what employers have the right to mandate in the workplace;
- Almost everything typically found in an employee handbook must be seen through a new lens – the post-pandemic workplace – in an effort to create a new and better workplace environment. Issues such as sick leave, family leave, work-from-home policies, and mental health services, must be reviewed and revised to address the new normal.
The sooner employers address these issues the smoother the return to work transition – whether in the office full time or working in a new hybrid model – will be.
