Staff Handbook

A complete, plain-English handbook for small and medium employers, covering conduct, pay, leave, IT, health and safety and procedures.

Editable Word document
19
10pages
Guidance notes included
aml consultancy solutions

People & HR

Staff Handbook

About this document

What it’s for

A ready-to-adapt staff handbook that sets out your workplace rules and policies in one place: conduct, equality and harassment, hours, pay, expenses, holidays, sickness, family leave, flexible working, IT and social media, data protection, health and safety, whistleblowing, disciplinary, grievance, capability and leaving.

When to use it

  • To give every new starter a clear guide to how you work
  • Alongside the contracts in this pack, which refer to it
  • To show that you have taken all reasonable steps to prevent harassment and other risks

What’s inside

The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.

  1. Welcome and how to use this handbook
  2. Equality, diversity and inclusion
  3. Bullying, harassment and sexual harassment
  4. Standards of conduct
  5. Hours of work, breaks and attendance
  6. Pay and payroll
  7. Business expenses
  8. Holidays
  9. Sickness absence
  10. Family-friendly and other leave
  11. Flexible and hybrid working
  12. IT, email, internet and monitoring
  13. Social media
  14. Data protection and confidentiality
  15. Health and safety
  16. Whistleblowing
  17. Disciplinary procedure
  18. Grievance procedure
  19. Performance and capability
  20. Leaving us

Also included

  • Contents

How to complete it

  • Work through each section, filling in names, contacts and choices
  • Delete sections that do not apply and add any sector-specific policies
  • Ask staff to sign the acknowledgement form at the end
  • Review at least once a year and when the law changes

Key points to check

  • Statutory rates (SSP, family pay, minimum wage, mileage) change every April
  • Several Employment Rights Act 2025 changes start in 2027 – see the notes
  • Employers in Northern Ireland should adapt the relevant sections

Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.

Included in the pack

People & HR

£20

for every document in this category

Editable Microsoft Word files

Guidance notes in every document

Written for UK businesses

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