As businesses grow, employers often find that they need to write down employment policies and procedures to encourage better workplace communications and consistency. When you commit to
preparing and distributing a written employee handbook it’s important to follow through and implement policies consistently. You must also plan to update the handbook on a regular basis, at least annually, to make sure it is accurate and compliant with law. I’ve seen situations where an employer copied an old printed handbook for many years, unfortunately, legal changes in the course of time caused many of those written policies to be out of compliance with current law. The resources below can help you get started, but it’s always a good idea to have an employee handbook reviewed by appropriate legal counsel before putting it into effect.
Example NY Employee Handbook
We’re introducing an example Employee Handbook adapted for New York state farm employers. Starting with the Michigan State example linked below, our team worked to develop an example farm employee handbook that New York farm employers can use either as a starting point to develop their own handbook or as a tool for comparison with an existing handbook.
To access the example:
- Click on Employee Handbook. This will open the file as a preview in the Box file storage site.
- Click the “Download” button in the upper right corner of the page.
- Typically, the downloaded file will appear at the bottom of your screen. You can then open the file, edit, and save on your computer.
This example handbook is provided for educational purposes only, employers are responsible for ensuring that their handbook is compliant with state and federal laws and regulations.
Other Resources
Michigan State University Extension developed an Agriculture Employee Handbook Template. Note that this handbook template was developed for Michigan farmers in 2014, there will likely be some difference from one state to another and the passage of time also brings changes in laws.
The Farm Commons provides a sample Employee Manual with helpful interpretation and discussion of various features. You must create a free account to access and download their resources. Again, this resource comes from the Midwest and was last updated in 2014.
