HR Pros Unsure if Handbooks are Compliant

Author: Victoria Kelleher

Employee handbooks are a tool that can help employers relay employment law and company expectations to employees. They can help serve as a record that employees have been informed of their legal rights. However, they can cause complications themselves if they become outdated and list policies that are not aligned with current employment law. To protect themselves from litigation, employers must ensure that company practices are always aligned with current legal requirements. 

A recent survey from Brightmine found that 62% of companies only review employee handbooks for compliance about once a year or less. However, employment law in the United States is a dynamic landscape; changes can come into effect at any time throughout the year, at both the state and federal level. In most cases, this likely means that there is a window between the time a law comes into effect and the time it is correctly reflected in the handbook. 

Even aside from federal law, states can have an extensive list of upcoming changes to employment regulations. California, for instance, often has more than 50 changes slated to come into effect over the course of a year (see Chart 1). Companies that operate in multiple states can find it particularly difficult to stay on top of these changes and juggle requirements across states. 

With a flurry of legal changes throughout the year, some companies may need robust processes for monitoring the law and updating handbook language if they want their handbooks to remain in alignment with the law at all times.

Low Confidence in Handbook Processes

Most HR representatives seem to be aware of this problem. Less than half of the HR representatives surveyed reported that they feel "very confident" that their handbooks accurately reflect all current employment law requirements. The rest expressed at least some degree of doubt or uncertainty. 

Regardless of how confident they were about their handbook's accuracy, most HR representatives (84%) admitted that there is at least some room for improvement in the processes they use to keep their handbook up to date (see Chart 2).  

Takeaway

Many HR representatives lack confidence when it comes to the current compliance of their employee handbooks, and most admit that the processes they use to keep handbooks up to date have room for improvement. This reflects the struggle to stay in stride with frequent and irregular changes to employment law. 

Though HR workers might be aware that processes could be improved, it is often difficult to conduct more frequent reviews for compliance because of other priorities. These efforts can consume a lot of time, and it's possible that they will not yield changes if no discrepancies are found. This is why services that alert HR to upcoming laws and automate language updates are such a vital tool to improve the handbook process.