The Household Employee Handbook

Like any employer, household employers must establish fair personnel practices and policies, and apply them equally to all staff. Providing each employee with a household employee handbook that explains the household workplace’s rules, practices, and policies is a necessity, and presents clear advantages to the employer. An employee handbook lets employees know what the rules and practices are within the household. While highly prevalent in the corporate workplace, employee handbooks are noticeably absent in the majority of households today. The employee handbook cements the household’s employment and personnel policies.

All new employees should receive a handbook immediately upon hire or on the employment start date, and the employer should have the employee sign a receipt acknowledging that they have received the handbook. The employer should file this in the employee’s personnel file. The receipt should state that the employee was provided with information on important household HR issues, including:

• Anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies
• Discipline
• Dress code
• Employee benefits including health insurance and workers’ compensation
• Expense reimbursement
• Household philosophy and conduct
• Payroll and taxes
• Performance reviews
• References and background checks
• Retirement
• Salary increases, bonuses, and gifts
• Sick and personal days and holidays and vacation time
• Termination, resignation, and exit interview procedures
• Timekeeping and work schedules, including overtime policy
• Use of employer property

Reference this list when developing your household’s employee handbook, and address any questions an employee has or any information an employee wants to know about his or her job and the workplace. Obviously this is a huge undertaking and is daunting for a household employer to develop. However, it is well worth the effort to avoid later disputes with the employee.

For more information and assistance in creating your household employee handbook, contact GTM’s Household Employment Experts at (888) 432-7972.