University News
Employee Handbook Seminar May 31 in Macomb
May 18, 2006
MACOMB, IL - - Too often smaller businesses look at an employee handbook as something for the big guys, not for them. Clearly, this is a dangerous position to take. Lawsuits for wrongful termination alone had a median rate of $250,000 in 2003, nearly double the median in 1997, according to Catherine M. Padalino in an October 2005 article in The Financial Manager magazine.
Many critical issues can be resolved by having a proper employee handbook in place, said Dan Voorhis, director and certified business specialist at the Western Illinois University Small Business Development Center. Proper construction and regular administrative updating of the employee handbook has become a necessity in todays business environment.
Small businesses with only a few employees often feel that creation of an employee handbook is a tedious, unnecessary experience.
To address this misconception, the WIU Small Business Development Center (SBCD, Macomb Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Development Corporation and Spoon River College, are sponsoring the seminar The Employee Handbook Boring Your Way to Profit featuring Richard Galbreath, a nationally published author, speaker, trainer, consultant and founder of Performance Growth Partners, Inc. Galbreaths presentation will include:
How a good handbook will help reduce unnecessary unemployment, tax and other costs, limit liability and promote productivity in your business.
What your handbook should contain.
What your handbook should not contain.
A handbook eliminates a lot of questions employees have. It serves as the main reference point for employees and is the ideal place to outline expectations and address issues like internet usage at work, dress code or time off, said Beau Ingledue, a partner at Purdum, Gray, Ingledue (PGI), Inc.
Ingledue said that PGI, Inc. has had an employee handbook for well over a decade.
One of the companies we represent, Cincinnati Insurance, provides us and our clients with information designed to assist us in creating an employee handbook, he added.
The seminar will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 31 at the Spoon River College Macomb Center Auditorium, 208 S. Johnson Street.
Pre-registration is required; contact Spoon River College at 309/833-6031. Registration fee is $20 and seating is limited. Business owners, human resource practitioners or anyone interested in writing or improving their employee handbooks are invited to attend.
For more information, contact the WIU Small Business Development Center at 309/836-2640 or www.wiusbdc.org.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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