4 Employee Handbook Horror Stories

Many employers don’t think twice about not having a quality employee handbook – or even having one at all. Admittedly, they aren’t the most exciting project to take on, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t critical for every employer to have.

Employee handbooks that are purposeful, detailed, and well-written have the ability to minimize many of the HR challenges business owners dislike taking on; they can also help mitigate the risk of your company being the subject of the next handbook horror story, like the ones below:

Horror #1 – Disappearing and Reappearing Benefits

In the process of redesigning the layout for his company’s personnel folders, Dave noticed a lot of the information about benefits was disorganized. He decided to create a reference on all employees for quick access to each person’s benefits.

What started out as a fun, easy idea turned into an HR nightmare. After Dave spoke with several employees and checked with accounting, he uncovered a big pile of trouble: the deductions in employees’ paychecks didn’t match the benefits they received. Out of sixty employees, at least 20% were either paying for benefits they weren’t enrolled in or has signed up for benefits they weren’t paying for.

Dave had to meet with each employee and announce the bad news that their benefits have been incorrect for about a year. Fortunately, the company was able to refund the employees who were paying for non-existent benefits and work with those already paying for benefits they didn’t have.

But, can we just say, awkward?

(source)

Horror #2 – The 43 Page Dress Code

A Swiss bank has provided its employees with a 43-page handbook outlining the company’s dress code, even going so far as to include the types of makeup women should wear. The bank’s handbook claimed that if followed correctly, proper care for individual appearance would “enhance your personality” and “increase an individual’s popularity,” among other things.

Abercrombie & Fitch also provided an extremely detailed style guide in their handbook, including details on how low men should wear their jeans, how high women should cuff theirs, and how to properly tuck in a shirt. For a company notorious for PR blunders mostly related to appearance, it’s not surprising they place a high value on how their employees dress while at work. But does it really need to go quite so far?

(source)

Horror #3 – Outrageous Company Contracts

A small, family owned restaurant required their employees to sign contracts upon hire – not unusual for many employers. What was unusual however, was the policies outlined in those contracts. Employees were forced to work weekends and holidays or face a cut to their paychecks; the cost of any broken plates or burned food because of “direct negligence” would also result in a pay cut; any employee who resigns or is fired cannot work at any competitor within 50 miles of the restaurant for a year following their employment.

Policies such as these are enough to scare anyone away, including potential new hires.

(source)

Horror #4 – Dishonest Boss

Billy’s job switched from salary to hourly, so he dutifully recorded every hour he worked, including overtime, as outlined in their company handbook policies. One day, his boss stopped by his desk and told him he needed to go back through his timecards and mark them all as if he only worked eight hours a day.

He asked, “What about my overtime pay?” and she responded, “Well, you’ve already been paid the overtime, but I need to make it look like the department is staying within budget. The only difference will be the record.” So Billy complied, going back through his timecards and marking them at eight hours.

His next paycheck was zero dollars. When he asked payroll, he was told that remarking all his hours meant they had to refund themselves the overtime they had paid him. And when he pointed out his boss told him to remove the overtime, she lied and said he must have misunderstood her!
Based on the policies outlined in his employee handbook, Billy was in the right, so he went back and re-marked all his overtime and cleared it up with Payroll. He also applied for a lateral transfer under a new boss, and found out his old boss was laid off several months later – probably because she was found to be in violation of company policies.

(source)

Regardless of the size or scope of your business, having a well-written, purposeful, and detailed employee handbook is well worth the time and effort on the front end. If the above stories didn’t scare you, consider the potential time saved in training and onboarding, better prevention of potential legal exposure, and the quality increase you’ll see in new hire prospects and your overall business success a handbook can bring. There’s little argument with the fact that you’re much better off having a quality employee handbook than you would be otherwise.