Designing an employee handbook for remote and hybrid employees

An employee handbook for remote and hybrid employees has become a necessity for many organizations. To compete for talent—and access new talent—organizations have increased workplace flexibility through remote, hybrid and other location-based working arrangements. In addition to widening talent pools, increased remote and hybrid work has improved work-life balance and created new ways of collaborating.

But increased remote and hybrid work has also presented new compliance and cultural challenges. To be effective, employee handbooks must account for these challenges and continue to accurately outline expectations the organization has of its employees and how they should treat each other.

As you look to adapt your employee handbook for remote and/or hybrid employees, consider the key questions below.

What new employee policies do you need?

If you have a remote or hybrid workforce, in addition to core handbook policies, you’ll need to ensure that the handbook has at least the following policies:

Data security policy

Perhaps the most important policy you’ll include will originate—not from HR—but from IT: the data security policy. Work with IT to draft a new policy or expand an existing policy to include the security measures remote and hybrid employees need to take to protect company data at home and in public spaces. This policy can live both in the handbook and as a standalone policy, or you may have a brief reference to it in the handbook that links to the actual policy. Provided employees are aware of and understand the expectations, the policy will be effective.

Remote and hybrid work policies

You’ll also want to include a remote work and/or hybrid work policy. Here are some do’s and don’ts to consider when drafting either of these policies:

Do:

• Define what remote or hybrid work is for your organization. Is remote work the ability to work anywhere at any time or are there parameters, such as defined business hours or a requirement that employees be within a certain country or jurisdiction? Will employees be expected to meet face-to-face at certain times? If you have hybrid employees, who decides which day(s) employees will need to be in the office? The team? The division? The individual employee?
• Consider defining which roles are eligible for remote or hybrid work. Not only should this be in individual job descriptions, but the definition should also be in the handbook along with a description of the general types of roles that can be remote or hybrid. It is possible that some employees whose roles cannot be remote will want to be promoted or transfer, so give those employees a heads-up in the handbook.
• Define services the employee needs access to in order to work remotely. For instance, reliable power, internet or a dedicated workspace.
• Remind employees of their cybersecurity obligations. Employees should be required to follow IT rules concerning data security, protected or confidential information, and use of public Wi-Fi, for example.

Don’t:

• Avoid including language that makes remote or hybrid work contingent on performance. Whether an employee’s performance will impact their ability to work remotely should be addressed by their manager on an individual basis.
• Do not include language relating to dress codes or caretaking responsibilities. The talent you hire remotely or on a hybrid schedule should understand basic workplace expectations. Including these items and singling out remote or hybrid employees demonstrates a lack of trust.

State-specific policies

Keep in mind that remote employees are generally subject to the employment laws of the locality and state where they perform their work. As a result, employers must comply with notice requirements, protected classes, state-specific employee rights and more in all jurisdictions where remote employees live.

For this reason, it is critical for employers to be familiar with and comply with the state and local employment laws in effect where their remote employees are physically located and the work is being performed.

To ensure compliance, determine which state and local employment laws apply—for instance, wage and hour laws, leave laws and posting requirements—and then choose the best approach for including any related policies in the handbook.

You can also invest in an automated handbook management system to monitor multi-state legal compliance in your handbook for you.

Which existing policies need adjusting?

Many of the policies found in a handbook for a traditional, in-person workforce will also appear in a remote or hybrid employee handbook with adjustments. Here are some examples:

Handbook policy	Suggested changes
Harassment Policy	In a handbook for remote or hybrid employees, the definitions of what is harassment will likely stay the same, but examples will include various communication channels, like instant messaging, Slack, Teams and social media. These other means of communication could be the primary source of harassment in a remote setting.
Attendance policy	In a remote world, attendance likely looks different as well, as employees will not be required to be “in the office” at a specific time. An attendance policy should accurately reflect what is expected of remote and hybrid employees. For example, does the organization have “business hours” when everyone is expected to be available or working regardless of where they are located? If so, then the attendance policy should reflect that.
Paid time off (or sick leave and vacation) policy	The procedures for requesting time away from work are also likely different in a remote setting. Some organizations might not want to track this time as long as the work is getting done. Others might have a more formalized process for requesting and taking time off. This information should be clearly explained.
Confidentiality policy	Protecting confidential information becomes trickier when everyone is in their homes. Their families, friends and even household employees or repair people might come into contact with the organization’s information. It is critical for remote and hybrid employees to understand their role in protecting company information while in the comfort of their own homes or other off-site locations. Ensure your confidentiality policy describes employee responsibilities. This is likely to dovetail with data security policies, so cross reference those policies in the confidentiality policy, too.
Employee leaves policy	The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) may not apply to some employers with more than 50 employees if those employees are spread throughout the country with no central location. So, if the FMLA doesn’t apply, will the organization still offer some FMLA-like (but not actual FMLA) leave? And, because leave requirements vary from state to state, consider whether your organization should offer to all employees across all jurisdictions uniform leave benefits that match the most generous state or local requirements. Doing so will ease the administrative burden and help create a more cohesive organizational culture.
Wage and hour policy	If nonexempt employees are working from home, tracking their work hours to make sure they are paid correctly becomes more challenging. The policy should explain what the organization expects, specifically how to accurately report time and why off the-clock work is not permitted.

Where will the employee handbook live?

Once the handbook is complete, the next decision is where and how will employees access it. There are many options within some HR technology solutions, for instance, within an HR app on the employee’s phone or in the timekeeping system (if different). HR’s site on the intranet is also a popular place to keep it. The trick is to make the handbook as easy to find as possible. Hiding the policy away or only providing paper copies will mean employees cannot get to the information they need when they need it.

Consider posting your handbook as a single, complete document with hyperlinks to specific policies to make it easier for employees to navigate. This way, they won’t have to comb through all the wage and hour policies to get to, for example, the FMLA policy they need.

How will handbook acknowledgements be kept?

During onboarding, most employers require employees to sign off on their receipt and acknowledgement of the handbook. This is no different in a remote or hybrid setting even though it may all be done online using digital signatures. Regardless of how HR obtains acknowledgments, make sure it still makes it to the employee’s personnel file.

Conclusion

An employee handbook for remote and hybrid employees may be a tall ask. It can be a real challenge to cover the unique situations remote work presents as well as the additional jurisdictions. Focus on building a handbook that views employees as trustworthy, notifies them of their rights and is easy for them to find and understand when they need it.