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The employee handbook, guidelines, or company policy manual— is an essential part of due process or fairness, which requires that people should first be informed of the standards of conduct expected of them before they can be accused of any transgression.

WHAT IT IS

While rules and regulations are its usual concerns, an employee handbook is, of course, also an effective motivational tool. They inform employees of the benefits and privileges they are entitled to by virtue of their employment as well as the company’s reward system for good performance. Ideally, it should also cover the company’s system of addressing employee concerns.

There may be different reasons for drafting an employee handbook. It may simply be to orient new employees on the history and ideals of the company. It may be a result of a comprehensive effort by management to standardize policies and procedures. Or, it may just be there to make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to doing his or her job.

BASIS FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

It should be remembered, though, that company policies are often referred to when an employee commits an infraction and, in that sense, the clarity of the rules could have some legal effect. In fact, any vagueness in the said policies would usually be resolved in favor of the employee and against the company that drafted the rule in the first place.

In drafting an employee handbook, therefore, one should look at the specific concerns of the establishment. For example, if a company’s employees are usually out on sales calls, then the company may need to formulate very strict guidelines on how to determine when time out of the office is used for company purposes. Retail stores would have different priorities, like minimizing loss of inventory. On the other hand, a security agency may be very strict when it comes to absenteeism and tardiness.

The handbook can cover any and all matters relating to the company, including its history, its mission statement, the functions and responsibilities of each department, and the company’s rules all the way to coffee breaks and company outings. But at its most basic, it needs to provide employees with information on matters that affect them on an ongoing basis, such as hours of work, break times, uniforms, vacation leaves, sick leaves, manner of payment of salaries, deductions, overtime, days off, and the like.

It is not enough, though, for management to loosely decide what they think is right or wrong conduct for their employees and then put it into writing for enforcement. It is paramount to consider what the law requires. Indeed, there are certain employment standards mandated by the Labor Code of the Philippines that cannot by any means be contravened by company policies.

The following are common examples:

The normal working period for any employee should not exceed eight hours a day. Beyond this, it becomes overtime work that the employer should compensate for with an additional 25 percent of the employee’s regular wage.

Short breaks during working hours of less than 20 minutes are counted as hours worked and should, therefore, be paid.

The Labor Code provides that “it shall be the duty of every employer to give his employees not less than 60 minutes time-off for their regular meals.”  

Work between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. must be compensated by an additional pay of 10 percent for each hour of work performed between those times.

Employees should get a rest period of not less than 24 consecutive hours after every six consecutive normal workdays. If employees are made to work on a rest day, then the employer will have to compensate them with an additional 30 percent of their regular pay.

Employers are required to pay employees 13th month pay.

Every employee who has rendered at least one year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay.

Under certain conditions, female employees are entitled to 60 days’ maternity leave benefits, or 70 days to 80 days in case of a caesarian delivery.

Fathers are entitled to a seven-day paternity leave with pay.

In the end, it should be emphasized in the handbook itself that the rules and regulations enunciated in a company’s employee handbook will be subject to periodic review to determine its relevance to the needs of the company as it evolves, and, as such, those rules and regulations are subject to amendments and revisions that may be made by management from time to time.