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Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

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Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

#1

Post by birdisthepass »

We started off as a few friends working together, but we have been lucky to quickly grow to a consulting firm of 11 full-time employees.

For better or worse, we're at the point where we should probably (definitely) formalize some things for the team (still figuring out which, exactly). The first that comes to mind is an employee handbook.

Has anyone gone through the process of formalizing an employee handbook? Is there a template that YC companies or other startups use as a starting point?

I've seen a few super corporate-y templates online and I'd like to incorporate some level of personality/minimalism and also avoid overwhelming employees with legalese (if possible).

Many thanks in advance!

Re: Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

#4

Post by retrac »

My suggestion would be to also look at such material from very different sectors. So much of it is generally applicable that much will overlap, but maybe the bits that don't will offer insight to what you're missing for your niche.

Re: Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

#5

Post by john_cogs »

dudul wrote: post #2

GitLab's handbook is public I think. Could be a good inspiration.

Thanks for mentioning GitLab. We're really proud of our handbook.

For folks that are exploring how to start building their own handbook, this page in might be a good place to start: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/handbook...

Re: Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

#6

Post by birdisthepass »

auslegung wrote: post #3

The two that come to mind are gitlab’s https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ and valve’s https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/publications . I read valve’s a few years ago and actually enjoyed it. I haven’t read any of gitlab’s.

Thanks! These both look great.

Re: Ask HN: Employee Handbook for Startups?

#7

Post by birdisthepass »

john_cogs wrote: post #5
dudul wrote: post #2

GitLab's handbook is public I think. Could be a good inspiration.

Thanks for mentioning GitLab. We're really proud of our handbook. For folks that are exploring how to start building their own handbook, this page in might be a good place to start: https://about.gitlab.com/company/culture/all-remote/handbook...

Thanks! This bit is particularly helpful:

> Almanac is an excellent tool for organizations building their first handbook. It allows you to pull in expert guides from other companies (GitLab included) and modify to suit your company. This shortens the time between acknowledging that a handbook is necessary and having a minimum viable product available for your team to reference and iterate on.

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