Creating Employee Handbook - Advice Needed Please

[Thom117]

Hey Guys,
First off, thanks for this forum. It has helped a lot in the past.

Both washes I manage are attended, with one attendant working by themselves during a shift: Greeting, loading, and a little pre-washing.

After looking through a few other threads about training employees, etc, it has been suggested a few times that utilizing an employee hand book could help keep employees organized and have a clearer picture of what is expected. However, others have said that keeping a handbook could cause problems (depending on state laws), if an employee needed to be let go.

Right now we have checklists posted on the shop walls, listing specific cleaning duties and opening/closing procedures they need to complete during their shift. Id really like to just put together something that would serve more as a reference guide for attendants, rather than a Policy littered 'hand book' I suppose. I don't want to bog them down with rules and policies so much so that there isn't room for them to improvise or think critically if a less than usual situation where to arise.

Currently, we train our employees all the stuff they need to know of course, and conduct assessment/refresher courses on a regular basis to keep our standards up. I think having something that attendants can look back on could be a lot of help to them though, especially if a good amount of time has passed between conducting certain tasks or working through a particular situation, this could serve as a little reminder during their day to day work if needed.

What are your thoughts and suggestions? Would something like this have the same negative effects that others have mentioned keeping a hand book could cause?

Sorry about the long post, if you're still with me, thanks, I appreciate all the help.

 

[wash4me]

nolo.com and fill in the blanks

 

[robert roman]

If the owner had to go to court to defend against customer or employee injury, wrongful death, vehicle damage, etc., one of the first things the attorney would assess and evaluate is how well the owner followed industry best practices.

For example, is there a manual that covers employee roles and responsibilities? Is there an accident and safety prevention plan? Is there an operation’s manual? Is there a safety meeting log book and MSDS manual?

Without these things, the owner will be like a deer in the headlights when something eventually goes wrong.

Here, the carwash associations and consultants are a good source to obtain advice on industry best practices.

I would also suggest hiring an experience labor attorney as opposed to using online fill-in-the-blank templates to help protect a million dollar plus investment.

 

[Earl Weiss]

If the owner had to go to court to defend against customer or employee injury, wrongful death, vehicle damage, etc., one of the first things the attorney would assess and evaluate is how well the owner followed industry best practices.

.

Have an EE and was sued along with the customer who lost control of her car (her company settled for policy limits) while exiting and ran into the Coca Cola delivery driver. The Plaintiff's attorney subpoened in Eric Wolf of the ICA for a deposition. I was deposed as well and present for that deposition.

It became very clear during the process that the lawyers for both sides were pretty clueless as to how a conveyor car wash operated and what industry practices were or how they applied.

 

[robert roman]

I can’t speak about the folks at Coke, but I can tell you from my experience giving depositions that attorneys who represent Toyota are not inept.

 

[JeffM]

Having a handbook which contains only pertinant information your team needs to know can be a very valuable tool. A good place to begin would be an outline of the "need to know" items you expect new staff to be aware of. This may include things like hours of work and breaks, vacation time, things to do at all times, things not to do, how to handle a basic customer complaint, theft policy, violence & harassment policy, etc. Putting these things in their hands on day one will ensure that there is minimal confusion on key ploicies.

Of course, you will need to ensure that your policies are in line with local labour laws and that your wording does not allow for interpretation. (This is where legal issues may arise) Your on the job training is also key to ensuring that they understand the handbook and have any questions answered. We have a formal classroom training for new hires and encourage them to ask questions and have them answered. We also have them sign off that we went through the training book with them and that they feel they asked enough questions (if any) and that they feel they understand the material they were given.

I prefer to keep procedures seperate from this handbook, just as to not overload them. With that said, I do have all of our standard procedures posted in a location where staff can review them at anytime. In regards to the critical thinking aspect, this really comes down to the training you will provide them. Stress that policies are good guidelines for use in "most" cases. They should be able to evaluate each situation and decide quickly if it is something that falls into the "normal" category or not and decide on an appropriate course of action. Empowering your team to make some decisions like this will ultimately make your job as a manager easier as you will not be bothered with small issuses which do not require your involvement to resolve.

Hope this helps!