The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Flawless Remote Employee Handbook

Whether your workforce has only been remote since the beginning of the pandemic, or you’ve had a virtual workforce for a long time, your organization needs a remote employee handbook so everyone has the same expectations. So how do you create one and what do you include? Here are some tips in this guest post by Roman Shvydun, content marketer for Mailbird.

Ever since working from home began to gain momentum, organizations across the globe have made significant changes to the way they communicate with their remote workforce. The shift has included countless hours spent crafting employee contracts, bylaws, non-disclosure agreements, and other guidelines to avoid any mix-ups of communication at a later stage. This is where a remote employee handbook is key in laying out all this information in an easy-to-understand and clear manner, allowing you to maintain smooth and positive workplace communication.

If you need help creating such a top-notch handbook, we have curated the ultimate guide for drafting the perfect one for your workforce. But first, let’s understand what a remote employee handbook is and why it is so important to have one for your organization.

What Makes a Remote Employee Handbook So Important?

An employee handbook is a key document containing a company’s policies, rules, regulations, dos and don’ts, culture goals, missions, values, and more. It is the holy grail of communication for all companies focused on building a transparent workspace for their employees, especially those who work from home. While there are a lot of ways the remote employee handbook comes in handy, here are some of the most highly acknowledged ones.

1. Clear Code of Conduct

More often than not, boundaries between personal and professional time get blurred when we work remotely. With an employee handbook, you can clearly demarcate your company’s code of conduct and set workday expectations. Here’s why you should always save a section in your handbook for a code of conduct:

All of these points come together to smooth out creases in communication, streamline your processes, and help your employees stay focused on their work.

2. Smooth Onboarding

A remote employee handbook defines your business goals, missions and vision, and everything else a newcomer needs to get comfortable in their role. It also aids in the training process by helping them better understand the company and making them more familiar with the team structure, hierarchy, and so on. A few other things a handbook contains that help in smooth onboarding are:

With all this information, a new person will feel much more at ease and continue to stay focused on learning, thereby absorbing the company’s culture and pace sooner. This also goes a long way in making them more relaxed with their work expectations, as they know what and whom to report to in case of miscommunication/conflict.

3. Handling a Legal Dispute

An employee handbook can be an effective tool in handling or preventing legal disputes if it clearly states the company’s policies and regulations with very little room for confusion. It lays down all the vital information in a clear, coherent, and unambiguous manner, which safeguards your organization and employees’ rights in case a disagreement reaches the stage of a legal dispute.

4. Promoting a Growth-Oriented Environment

The statements and policies written in a remote employee handbook outline everything an employee needs to know and should follow unequivocally. When employees work without an ounce of doubt, they work better with more focus and clarity. This, in turn, leads to an environment that nurtures skills and talent and fosters a community where everyone grows together. Employees also gain a sense of responsibility toward the organization and make deliberate attempts to refrain from doing anything the handbook disallows.

Now that you know why this document is absolutely essential for the smooth operation of your organization, let’s understand what it entails and why.

What to Include in a Remote Employee Handbook

Writing a remote employee handbook requires absolute precision and can become exceedingly overwhelming, especially if you’re unaware of what to include in it. To help you get started in the right direction, here’s a little walkthrough of everything you need to include in your remote employee handbook.

1. A Warm Welcome Note

Your handbook should begin with a short and sweet introduction, followed by a warm welcome note. This is one of the first interactions with your company undertaken by a new employee, so it has to be inviting and should convey positivity and a sense of belonging. Here’s an example of how you can write this note:

“We are happy to have you as part of our organization and hope you’ll have the best professional and personal experience with us. Here’s to facing challenges together and converting them into fruitful opportunities together as a team.”

2. Policies for New Employees

When a new employee comes on board, it’s important to get them acquainted with your culture, policies, and ways of functioning. Having a well-drafted remote employee handbook does that job brilliantly for you. A few topics to cover in the policies section could be:

Another important thing you need to cover in this section is a smooth document collection process to ensure that your remote workforce is bound by the information they share. Also, keep the language here simple, as this is the most visited section in the entire handbook.

3. Cover the Legalities

If your region has specific legal clauses regarding employment, it’s worth disclosing them in the remote employee handbook. This section plays a vital role in safeguarding the interests of your organization and your employees in case you unknowingly violate a clause or at the time of an internal or external dispute. Here are a few other points you should cover in this section:

Having your legalities sorted conveys a solid reputation and instills trust in the hearts and minds of your employees. At the same, it protects your rights as an organization in a legally dependent situation.

4. Addressing Policies Related to Technology and Communication

A dedicated section in your handbook that talks about various tech-related experiences is a must for every employee who comes on board. For instance, you can have a clause that says it is important for every employee to be proficient at MS Excel. Having this clause gives you the full right to release an employee if they don’t fulfill this criterion. Communication policies are another category to be covered here. Some points worth mentioning are:

In the digital era, you need employees who are digitally smart and know their technology well but use it at the right time and place. 

5. Financial Expectations

This is the section in your remote employee handbook for information about compensation and any perks an employee will receive. Break this information into the easiest forms so the employee understands what he or she is getting into. There is no room for ambiguity in this section, as it happens to be one of the main reasons behind the employee joining your organization. Also, use this section to talk about bonuses and appraisals in-depth, along with tax withholding laws. 

6. Employee Benefits and Incentives

Incentives go a long way in keeping employees motivated and focused to do their best and achieve more goals. Save some space to cover the benefits and incentives your organization offers its employees. Highlight all the great things you have in store for those who perform well or even those who’ve only recently come on board. For instance, if they are applicable:

These benefits are pivotal in making employees feel like you genuinely care for them and are willing to go that extra mile for their welfare.

7. Procedure for Release

The exit of an employee requires extreme sensitivity and grace. Your exit policies should be as clear as your onboarding ones so the employee feels they were valued during the time they spent in your organization. The checklist for this section of your remote employee handbook includes:

Keep this section as empathetic as you can. This is the last interaction the employee will have with the organization, so it needs to end on a positive note.

8. Sensitive Issues

While working remotely, there might be times when you encounter an uncomfortable situation with an employee. For instance, they might turn up late for a meeting or deadline, or maybe they won’t respond to calls or emails. They may also take a leave of absence without following the proper procedures.

Instead of ignoring these issues or letting them go with a warning, you need to have proper policies in place that clearly state the action and the repercussions. This way you will be able to deal with the issue in a much more dignified and structured manner, without looking unreasonable, rude, or partial.

Ensure that the employee handbook you create also comes with a table of contents for easy navigation. Keep the language clear and to the point and limit the use of industry-related jargon that would make the information sound dry. With that, let’s talk about how you can draft all this information without sounding boring and draggy.

Things to Remember While Creating a Remote Employee Handbook

At a basic level, your remote employee handbook should be free of any errors, be they grammatical or logical. It should be extremely easy to understand so every employee, no matter their position, can read and relate to it. Adding to the list, here are a few other things you should know to write an ideal employee handbook.

1. No Room for Ambiguity

The language in your handbook should be readable, considerate, and actionable. What you need to know is that most people won’t even turn the page if they lose attention or find the information irrelevant. Remember to be:

Pro tip! Use anecdotes and examples from real-life situations in your company to keep things light, conversational, and engaging.

2. Build Up a Unique Style

Experiment with different styles for creating an impactful remote employee handbook that is read and received well. For instance, you can use quirky images and infographics to talk about statistics. Break down information into smaller sections and use a colorful style to keep it light and fresh.

You could also explore a whole new medium and use your handbook as a part of your orientation webinar. There are a lot of webinar software programs available that gives you a chat option. Simply place a link in the chat and ask employees to download their handbooks. You could also share this link over a blast email for your existing employees. Use an email automation tool to save time drafting repetitive emails.

3. Acknowledgment Receipts

Once you’re done distributing your handbook, your employees should acknowledge the receipt with their signature. This is important because it establishes the fact that employees are aware such a document exists and can rely on it to understand the company better.

For offline distributions, file copies of the signed acknowledgment forms. For an online receipt, leverage a good CRM platform to keep track of all the digital signatures and pending receipts. You could also save them on Google Drive and make necessary changes from time to time. This will make it more accessible to remote workers and keep them updated with new agendas and plans. 

4. Get the Conversation Going

Introduce engaging ways to ensure the information in your remote employee handbook is received in the intended manner. One step in this direction could be training your managers to motivate their teams to read the handbook. To get even more creative:

The idea is to keep the conversation around the handbook going so every employee understands the importance of reading the manual.

Final Thoughts

This guide is only one way to get you started on a comprehensive and professional remote employee handbook for your company. It is your business’s single most important document, containing details that are critical for your employees to maintain a consistent flow of communication.

Use digital methods of distribution for your remote workforce, enlist a professional to draft it, and ensure that you have acknowledgment signatures and that your employees abide by the handbook at all times. With the information presented here, you’re well on your way to kickstarting the best remote employee handbook for your company and adapting to newer ways of working remotely.

Author Bio

Roman Shvydun is a content marketer at Mailbird, a top-rated desktop email client. Roman writes informative articles mainly about everything related to email apps, marketing, business, productivity, workplace culture, etc. His articles focus on balancing information with SEO needs, but never at the expense of providing an entertaining read.