Employee handbook services
- Sections in the handbook
- 19
- Paid time off, hours a year
- 120
- PTO accrued per period, hours
- $4.62
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. The only constants HeadcountDesk supplies are the published federal payroll tax rates and the overtime multiplier, each cited where it is used. The defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
An employee handbook service, as most small employers meet it, is a consultancy that interviews you for an hour and returns a sixty-page document a month later for a four-figure fee. Most of that document is the same for every client. What actually differs between one small employer and the next is a short list of figures and choices: how much paid time off, how it accrues, how many paid holidays, how long the introductory period is, which states you employ people in. Put those in and the handbook writes itself around them.
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Decide the figures before the prose
PTO days, sick days, paid holidays, the accrual schedule, the introductory period and the standard working week are the numbers every policy section refers back to. The handbook template on this site asks for them first and turns them into the hours, accrual rates and company-wide totals the policies state, so the prose never contradicts the payroll.
Add a state addendum, not a second handbook
Leave, final pay and notice rules differ by state, and an employer with people in two states does not need two handbooks. One core document with an addendum per state keeps the policies you chose in one place and puts only the state-specific rules where they apply.
Collect an acknowledgement from every employee
A handbook nobody has signed for is a document nobody can be held to. One acknowledgement form per employee, dated, filed against their record and re-collected when the handbook changes, is the part of the service that matters most and the part most often skipped.
Employee handbook services: common questions
What does an employee handbook service cost?
Consultancy-written handbooks are priced by the engagement and we do not quote other firms' fees. The handbook template on this site is free with no account; HeadcountDesk Pro, which saves the handbook against your company with your branding and collects the acknowledgements, is $24 a month per location.
Does a small business legally need a handbook?
Federal law does not require one, but several policies a handbook carries are required or strongly protective, and a written, acknowledged policy is what an employer points to in a dispute. Have the result reviewed for your state; this tool produces the figures and the structure, not legal advice.
How often should the handbook be updated?
Whenever a figure in it changes, and at least once a year for state law. Because the template is built from the figures, changing the PTO allowance updates every section that states it, and Pro records which employees have acknowledged the current version.
Will it do what you need for Employee handbook services?
Tell us what your business needs and we will tell you straight whether HeadcountDesk Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.