Employee Handbooks: 2025 Critical Issues

A nationwide survey of employers revealed that while organizations use employee handbooks to address key business, legal, and talent management challenges, they limit the effectiveness of their handbook policies by the use of ineffective of the handbook practices. As the survey report noted, in many organizations there is a disconnect between the drafting of handbook policies and the implementation of those policies. 
To increase the effectiveness of their employment policies, organizations will have to: 1) enhance their business, operational, and legal intelligence to ensure they have identified the changing external and internal factors that affect their policies; 2) increase internal stakeholder participation in the handbook development process to obtain greater employee commitment and operational alignment; 3) establish new metrics to assess handbook policy and practices performance and measure the achievement of organization goals;  and 4) implement internal controls that identify and alert management when employee handbook process failures occur.

• Review the key findings of the employee handbook survey
• Review the basics of employee handbook development
• Discuss the expanding purposes and scope of employee handbooks
• Learn the dimensions of critical handbook policies
• Understand the framework of employee handbook audits activities
• Develop employee handbook Key Performance Indicators

• HR Professionals
• Internal Auditors and External Auditors
• Business Owners
• CFO’s
• Managers and Supervisors
• Compliance Officers
• Risk Managers

Ronald L. Adler, president of Laurdan Associates Inc. has 42 years of HR consulting experience and has served as a consulting expert on work force, workplace, and HR management issues for The Wall Street Journal, HRMagazine, and other publications and newspapers across the country. Mr. Adler's research findings have been used by the Federal Reserve Board, the EEOC, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), insurers, and international organizations.

Mr. Adler is a frequent lecturer and author on HR management, employment practices, and UI issues. Mr. Adler is the author and editor of the Employment-Labor Law Audit (ELLA), the internationally recognized HR auditing and employment practices liability risk assessment process.

Mr. Adler is an adjunct professor at Villanova University where teaches a graduate level course in HR Auditing. Mr. Adler is also a certified instructor for The Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters (CPCU) Society on employment practices liability and HR auditing issues and has conducted continuing education courses for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on HR management and HR auditing topics. Additionally Mr. Adler has served as an adjunct instructor at the Baltimore City Community College on workplace diversity and sexual harassment.

Mr. Adler is an appointee to State of Maryland's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Oversight Committee and previously served as an appointee to the State's UI Funding Task Force, the UI Advisory Committee, and the state's Workforce Training Initiative. Mr. Adler has served as a moderator at the State of Maryland's Annual Human Relations Conference and at the state's Annual Small Business Conference.