The following post was written by Issela Sono, Nonprofit Management and Governance Intern at the Standards for Excellence Institute. Issela has volunteered in various nonprofit organizations in the Maryland and Washington, DC area while pursuing her undergraduate studies in Global Business and Public Policy. Issela is certified in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and is currently pursuing a M.B.A., with a concentration in Public Management, at Hood College. The Standards for Excellence Institute is proud to announce the release of the fourth edition of its Model Employee Handbook, revised with the help of experts in the human resources field to provide organizations with a guide to create and execute appropriate written personnel policies. The purpose of developing an employee handbook is to provide clear and consistent guidelines on how to proceed in the event complicated situations arise in employee-employer relationships. The newly updated Standards for Excellence Personnel Policies educational resource packet and its accompanying Model Employee Handbook feature changes in the areas of personnel policies development, drafting of an employee handbook, and distribution of the handbook (including the importance of employee orientation).  Additionally, references such as websites, articles, and book resources have also been updated. Below are a few of the changes made to the Model Employee Handbook:

• The section pertaining the use of the Model Employee Handbook has been revised and updated. The updates:
  • Highlight the importance of adding an introductory statement regarding the utilization of the information contained in the document.
  • Include a disclaimer to provide protection to the organization in the event of a misunderstanding.
• New sections have been added covering the following topics:
  • “Reasonable Accommodations” under Workplace Practices
  • “Attendance” under About Your Job
  • “Solicitation and Distribution” under Communication
• The following sections have been removed:
  • “Compensation Time” from Leave Policies
  • “Consecutive Unauthorized Days of Absence” under Career Development
• Changes were made to the Equal Employment Opportunity section to reflect the federal law requirements. A statement was added to the end of the segment regarding the variation of state laws and to ensure that nonprofit organizations take such laws into consideration during the development of their Employee Handbook.
• The “Hours of Work and Overtime” section has been updated to more precisely state what constitute working hours, exempt and non-exempt employees, and the specifics of flextime programs.
• A section on the subject of “Telecommuting” has been added to the body of the Model Employee Handbook. . It explains the subject in detail, how it applies to nonprofit organizations, eligibility, equipment and software, expenses and reimbursement, roles and responsibilities, supervisor responsibilities, monitoring, intellectual property and confidentiality, taxes, and health and safety.

We are scheduled to release additional updates to educational resource packets later this month on other related nonprofit management and governance topics. These resources are available for download, free of charge, to Standards for Excellence Institute members at our website. Stay tuned!