Chris + Sarah Coleman
Four Seasons Nursery & Landscape Services
Bel Air, Md.
LM: What’s your approach to an employee handbook?
SC: The handbook was one of the first things we wrote up when we purchased the company from my mother-in-law four years ago. I took what I knew from being in a totally separate industry and the experiences and stories I’d heard from Chris over the years and figured out where to start. Chris was involved in the business when my in-laws owned it, and I was a government contractor. Neither one of us had any kind of experience running a business whatsoever.
LM: What topics do you include?
SC: Compensation, benefits, holidays, parental leave, those kinds of things. We had a workman’s comp issue come up, so now we have a policy on that. No matter what, you may not come back to work until you have a clear doctor’s note.
LM: How and when it is distributed? How often is it updated?
SC: When employees come in to fill out paperwork after they’re hired, we provide a copy of the handbook. I used to read through it with everybody, but now it’s up to 15 pages, so they can take it home. But they have to sign a form saying they’re responsible for anything in the handbook. We’ve made some addendums, like a drug and alcohol policy and how we reimburse for education, so we had a company meeting, explained the addendums are policies and they had to sign off on those. Then we added them to the handbook at a later time.
It’s updated quarterly and reviewed once a year. We make sure the attorneys check it over. I deal with HR, but I don’t have an HR background, so we need to make sure we’re compliant.
LM: What advice do you have for other companies implementing a handbook?
SC: Definitely have a drug and alcohol policy. Be very clear on your leave policy, and include dress code, if you have one.
