What is the difference between an Employee Handbook and a Policy Manual?
Generally the difference between an Employee Handbook and a Policy Manual relates directly with the intended audience. Obviously, employee handbooks are for the employees. It gives general information about the company which is of interest to most employees. Things like paid holidays, sick leave, vacation requests and the like are covered in most employee handbooks. These handbooks are a quick reference for broad understanding of the topics of most interest to employees. A Policy Manual, on the other hand, is written for supervisors and managers. These books go into much greater detail about the topics which they cover. In larger companies, different departments may have different manuals for their managers. While these will often go over the same topics as employee handbooks, such as vacation policies, they will often go into greater depth and include guidelines for information such as how to resolve conflicts where two employees request the same days off. There are benefits to having
