Why modern managers are reviving old-school staff handbooks

The Soul Publishing, an online video content creator known for its life hack material, is ruthless about meetings. Employees must ensure they have tried every possible avenue to solve their problem before calling a meeting. Only once they are absolutely sure they are at an impasse can they can request a meeting, 24 hours in advance.

Then they must publish the agenda, and limit both the number of guests (brainstorming is considered a waste of time) and the length (30 minutes maximum). After the meeting has taken place, the notes will be published in the cloud, accessible to anyone who wants to look.

The Soul's remote-first workforce learn about these meeting protocols on the online wiki, Confluence, where the company posts its corporate handbook on policies and a guide to its working practices.

On the topic of internal communication, the online wiki warns: "It is completely forbidden to use email for internal communication within the company. Completely. Totally. There are no exceptions." Instead, employees are advised to use Slack, the workplace chat app.

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While the handbook is not publicly available, the company does share sections with prospective candidates so they get a feel for its culture. Arthur Mamedov, The Soul's chief operating officer, says: "Not every person would be fit to work in that environment." The meeting protocol can be especially hard for new recruits from traditional corporate backgrounds. "It's a mind twist in the first few months, the more senior they are, the greater the mind twist."

Homeworking

In a white-collar world that is increasingly likely to include a component of homeworking – or maybe wholly remote – increasing numbers of employers are building virtual company handbooks to document their working style and culture. The scope is broader than traditional handbooks which would set out benefits and compliance issues.

Jennifer Smith, co-founder and chief executive of Scribe, which makes productivity software, says two new trends are making company handbooks important.

“The first is remote work. You used to be able to lean over the proverbial cubicle, learning by osmosis. When people are remote, that is much more challenging. It’s becoming more of a burden on your best people and harder for new people who might not want to ask or know who to ask.”

The Great Resignation is also highlighting its importance. "Collective knowledge is leaving the company."

Such an approach also fits with corporate leaders, such as Reed Hastings at Netflix and Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates "taking a proselytising approach to their way of working", says Nick Lovegrove, professor of the practice at Georgetown University's McDonough school of business.

Meanwhile social media platforms such as Glassdoor, an employee review site, have made cultures more transparent for outsiders.

The launch of a hybrid office culture at The Very Group, which operates Very.co.uk, the retailer, accelerated flexible work. To help employees adapt it produced The Very Good Work handbook, setting out protocols on the new ways of working.

"In a hybrid world, having accessible digital information to set standards and share how we get things done is vital," says Sarah Willett, the group's chief people officer. She hopes it will act as an induction for new starters and a way to attract talent.

Acclimatise

The company is releasing one chapter at a time to allow employees to process the information and acclimatise to the new work practices. It has so far released guides to hybrid working, on how to use the company’s workplaces and how to hold a meeting.

Next up is a chapter on collaboration. “Our people absorb information in different ways, so every chapter includes content to read or listen to, supported by short, accessible digital learning modules,” says Willett. There is also an accompanying podcast. The Very Group envisages the content will grow and change as work practices bed down and its employees give feedback.

Information that is shared with minimal or no context may be misunderstood or misrepresented

Willett says: “Monitoring and measuring the playbook’s effectiveness will be crucial. By tracking take-up and impact, along with data from our surveys, we’ll know whether the playbook is delivering on its objectives – removing things that slow us down, driving productivity and, above all, making it easier for our people to do their jobs.”

GitLab, the online repository of open-source software code, started its handbook in 2013 and makes it accessible to the public. Under feedback, for example, it explains: "Giving feedback is challenging, but it's important to deliver it effectively. When providing feedback, always make it about the work itself; focus on the business impact and not the person."

Transparency

According to Wendy Nice Barnes, the company's chief people officer, the transparency means the company is better fixed to recruit people "that care about our values", encourages fast feedback from "people outside the company, and makes it easier to collaborate with them. It allows the world at large to replicate processes and make suggestions for improvement, and it simplifies sharing our processes with external stakeholders".

She points out that transparency has to be “responsible [requiring] deliberate context. Information that is shared with minimal or no context may be misunderstood or misrepresented. Transparency for transparency’s sake could have unintended consequences such as inefficiency, more meetings on a project than necessary, or doubling work.”

The GitLab handbook ensures processes and values are easily shared across time zones and geographies to the all-remote workforce. “This creates efficiency in shared understanding. It also creates a more welcoming environment for applicants and new hires.”

More equal workforce

The company believes it can make a more equal workforce, allowing everyone to have access to the same information. The handbook is key to its culture alongside working practice, values and camaraderie, created and maintained by informal communication.

It requires “all which was implicit to be made explicit”, says Nice Barnes, which requires effort. “There’s a very real fear that committing to a handbook, and instilling a culture of documentation, is too tall a task to actually accomplish.

The goal should not be to complete the handbook before ever announcing its existence to the company [but rather] iteration. Put the proper infrastructure in place, and begin documenting process after process, one at a time.”

In the long-term it is efficient, she argues. “An organisation that does not put concerted effort into structured documentation has no choice but to watch its team members ask and re-ask for the same bits of data in perpetuity, creating an inefficient loop of interruptions [and] meetings.”

While a focus on transparency can help to ensure accountability across an organisation, not everyone likes this approach

Raphael Crawford-Marks, founder and chief executive at Bonusly, an employee engagement platform, says they have had to change the way they amend their "Un-Handbook" as the company has grown.

“In the creation phase, when we were a little over 20 people, we had an all-day event and got a facilitator. Now we’re over 100 people and we can’t get everyone in the room to do that.” Instead, they invite feedback, then create a poll with a list of suggested changes to share and review.

While a focus on transparency can help to ensure accountability across an organisation, not everyone likes this approach. Handbooks may offer a lot of advantages, but according to Lovegrove at Georgetown University, "there's the issue of whether employees like the notion of a formula [for their work practices]. Or do they want to be trusted instead?" – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022