There are so many things to do when setting up a business that it might feel impossible to fit them all in. Thus you might push some tasks to the side or forget about them altogether in favor of spending your time on those that seem more urgent.
One thing you cannot afford to leave too late is creating an employee handbook. Ideally, you would have one ready as soon as you take on your first employees. Here are some of the reasons a handbook is so essential:
Set the tone
Each company thinks and operates slightly differently. Take fruit and vegetable stores, for example. One might focus on always having things in stock, no matter the time of year and how far the item must travel. Another might focus on selling produce in season locally. Outlining your company philosophy in your handbook helps employees understand and use it to inform their decisions and customer interactions.
Make rules and expectations clear
You likely have ideas about what you expect from your employees. What time you expect them to turn up and leave, how long they can take for breaks and what quality of work they need to produce. Spelling those out on paper allows all new employees to see the same information, rather than relying on details passed down by word of mouth that might get distorted along the way. It also gives you something to refer back to if an employee fails to abide by the rules or meet the expectations.
Indicate the resources available to employees
You need your employees to understand the resources you make available to them, especially for difficult situations such as if someone were harassing them. Spelling out clear steps they can take whenever they have a problem increases the chance you can keep your workforce happy and productive and reduces the chance of facing a lawsuit.