Business

7 Tips for Creating a Professional Employee Handbook

Published

5 years ago

March 1, 2021

An employee handbook might seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of running a business, but it can have a major impact on your business’s inner workings. From processes and execution to employee confidence and consistency, a good handbook has the potential to change everything.

Why Create an Employee Handbook?

As a small business owner, you have to be intentional about what you spend your time on – otherwise, you risk being pulled in a dozen different directions.

So at first glance, it might be tempting to write-off an employee handbook as proverbial “busy work,” but we’d implore you to give it a second thought. Doing so could provide your growing company with a wealth of ongoing value.

As The Hartford explains, “An employee handbook is a compilation of all your company’s policies and protocols, as well as employees’ legal rights and obligations. Having an employee handbook makes it easy for you to communicate rules and responsibilities to employees, so there’s no question about what’s expected from them — or from you, as the small business owner.”

An employee handbook is an easy and convenient point of reference. It empowers your team and helps them address issues in real-time without having to involve other people and take them away from the work they’re doing.

7 Tips for Better Employee Handbooks

If you’re going to go through the effort of creating a handbook, you need to ensure it’s useful. A poorly executed employee handbook can do more harm than good, inciting confusion and feeling overwhelmed.

With that said, here are a few tips you may find helpful:

Make it Accessible

The problem with most employee handbooks is that they’re inaccessible. When an employee has a situation where they need the handbook, they don’t know where to find it. This causes the employee to either ignore it or send an email to HR (which hurts productivity and defeats the entire purpose of having a handbook in the first place).

In order to get the maximum value out of your handbook, you should invest in both digital and print copies. Digital copies can be stored on your company’s cloud drive or social intranet. Print copies can be printed on-demand and given to employees as part of their initial hiring package. (We recommend using spiral bound book printing to get the perfect blend of cost, durability, and looks.)

Keep it Engaging

A good employee handbook should be compelling enough to keep people engaged. You can do this through a combination of high-quality visuals, storytelling, and interactive elements (such as checklists).

Include the Basics

The beginning of the employee handbook should provide a one-page rundown of the company’s values, mission statement, and other basic elements like taglines and elevator pitch statements. Every employee should be required to memorize this page within the first month of being employed.

Address FAQs

An employee handbook should be more than an endless stream of policies and legal language. You want this to be a resource that employees can turn to in order to get answers to all common questions regarding processes and standard operating procedures. By centralizing your knowledge into a single resource, you cut down on the confusion people have with where to go. This trains them to visit the employee handbook first. Then, and only then, should they bring someone else into the issue or question they’re working through.

Explain Feedback Loops

While a handbook can cut down on 75 to 90 percent of questions employees have, even the most thorough resource can’t solve every problem. However, a good employee handbook can provide information on the proper feedback loops and chains of command so that employees know where to go with their inquiries.

Include Disclaimers

Finally, any good employee handbook must include disclaimers and other caveats pertaining to employment law and company policies. (This is as much about educating employees as it is about protecting yourself. Should an issue arise, the fact that you have well-documented disclaimers will show a good faith effort to educate.)

Consider including disclaimers as they relate to anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, family and medical leave policies, equal opportunity policies, etc.

Well-Organized

An employee handbook is not something that one of your team members is going to read from cover to cover – it’s a resource. When it comes to designing your handbook, be sure to include a clear table of contents and a reference section. This empowers employees to find what they’re looking for in a matter of seconds.

Empower Your Team to Succeed

An employee handbook won’t solve all of your problems or replace the need for training and development, but it does provide a centralized resource that empowers your team to be more productive. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to create a handbook for your team!

Business

Click for Counsel: YesLawyer Wants to Make Lawyers as Accessible as Wi-Fi

Published

6 days ago

April 1, 2026

Matthew Wiles

Photo Courtesy of: YesLawyer

Byline: Andi Stark

For many people facing a legal problem, the most difficult part is not understanding their rights but finding a lawyer willing to speak with them in the first place. Long wait times, unclear pricing, and administrative hurdles often delay even the most basic consultations. YesLawyer, an AI-enabled plaintiff firm operating across all 50 states, is testing whether technology can shorten that gap.

Founded in 2024 by 25-year-old entrepreneur Rob Epstein, the platform offers free intake, automated screening, and, in many cases, same-day conversations with licensed attorneys. The idea is simple: reduce the friction between a client’s first request for help and an actual legal discussion. In this interview, Epstein explains how the system works, where artificial intelligence fits into the process, and what problems the company is trying to address in the broader legal system

Q: When you say you want lawyers to be “as accessible as Wi-Fi,” what does that mean in practical terms?

A: It’s a way of describing speed and availability. Someone dealing with a workplace dispute, a serious injury, or an immigration issue should be able to move from an online form or phone call to a real conversation with counsel in hours, not weeks. YesLawyer is structured so that a client begins with a free case evaluation, goes through automated conflict checks and basic screening, and, in many instances, speaks with a lawyer the same day.

Q: How does the process work once someone contacts the platform?

A: We use a structured workflow. It starts with a short questionnaire and an initial conversation to capture basic facts. That information feeds into conflict checks and internal review. The system then proposes a match with a licensed attorney and provides a calendar link for a virtual consultation, often within 24 hours. After the meeting, the client receives a written legal plan outlining next steps, deadlines, and estimated fees.

Q: Where does artificial intelligence fit into that process, and where does it stop?

A: AI is used for organizing and routing information, not for giving legal advice. It helps with conflict checks at scale, case categorization, and structured summaries so attorneys can focus on the substance of the matter. Every consultation is conducted by a licensed lawyer, and all decisions about strategy or next steps are made by humans.

Q: What problem is this model trying to solve in the current legal system?

A: Delay and cost are still major barriers. Many civil plaintiffs face long waits just to get a first appointment, along with high retainers and hourly billing that make early legal advice risky. We try to respond with faster consultations, flat-fee options, and financing. The idea is to remove administrative friction so lawyers spend less time on logistics and more time speaking with clients.

Q: Some critics say platforms like this blur the line between a technology company and a law firm. How do you describe YesLawyer?

A: We describe ourselves as a national, AI-enabled plaintiff firm that connects clients with independent attorneys. That structure does raise regulatory questions, especially around responsibility and oversight. We focus on licensing verification, attorney-written case plans, and clear communication about fees and services.

Q: You’ve said the main bottleneck is “systems” rather than people. What do you mean by that?

A: The issue isn’t that lawyers don’t want to help more people. It’s that the systems around them make it hard to scale their time. Intake, scheduling, and document handling take hours. Automating those parts means attorneys can handle more matters without being overwhelmed by repetitive tasks.

Q: Does this model risk favoring only the most profitable cases?

A: That’s a real concern in legal technology. Automation often works best for repeatable, high-volume disputes. Our view is that lowering administrative cost can actually make it easier to take on smaller or more complex cases that might otherwise be turned away. Whether that holds over time depends on the data.

Measuring Impact Over Time

YesLawyer’s attempt to compress the timeline between inquiry and consultation reflects broader changes in how legal services are being delivered. As artificial intelligence becomes more common in administrative work, firms are experimenting with new ways to reduce wait times and clarify costs.

The company’s early growth suggests that many clients value faster access to an initial conversation, even before considering long-term representation. Whether this platform-based model becomes widely adopted or remains one of several emerging approaches will depend on regulatory developments, lawyer participation, and measurable outcomes for clients. For now, YesLawyer’s experiment highlights a central question in modern legal practice: how quickly can help realistically be made available to the people who need it.