An employee handbook, which is also termed as an employee manual or the staff handbook, is a portable book given to employees by the employer or an organization’s management. It can be used to bring together employment and job-related information which employees should have knowledge about, that is, holiday arrangements, company rules, disciplinary and grievance procedures. In preparing a handbook, the following are some of the ethical considerations that need to be met.
Ethics and Dressing Code
According to ethics, the handbook must consider the moral guidelines on how the employees will conduct themselves in the work environment. Regardless of the company, unethical behavior lowers a company's ability to attract and influence customers (Studer, 2012). The kind of dressing styles for both the males and females allowed in the company must be considered adequately.
Diversity of employees
Diversity must be considered in preparing the handbook; it makes people with different socio-economic backgrounds feel comfortable in working within a given organization. Additionally, it promotes equal opportunities among all employees to be hired and promoted based on outstanding merits and not a tribe, race, gender or creed. Therefore, non-discrimination standards are maintained and anti-discriminate policies implemented and penalties enforced for non-compliance.
Discipline and Conduct.
Preparation of employee handbook should consider discipline and behavior of the employees. Under these sections, conduct policies in areas such as sexual harassment of newly employed workers by the senior staffs must be addressed appropriately and further look into grounds for dismissal of an employee in case the policies are violated. On the other hand, the handbook should not only put much stress on the assaulters but to even those who have been assaulted for their failure to curb the scenario by for example taking care of dress code.
Reference
Studer, Q. (2012). The great employee handbook: Making work and life better. Gulf Breeze, FL: Fire Starter Pub.
