A current and comprehensive personnel policy manual can serve as a valuable tool to small and medium sized companies. This manual should cover all areas of employee relations such as compensation, vacation pay, leaves of absence, discipline and discharge, benefits and more.

Furthermore, such a policy manual can show management how to handle the full range of critical contemporary HR issues from AIDS to chemical safety. Businesses can benefit dramatically by adopting such policies which can produce immediate advantages, for example:

• Save time on extensive research and writing with checklists, policy  descriptions and sample policies.

• Reduce expenses with innovative policies that control absences, sick leave abuse and lawsuits.

• Speed up decision making by quickly sorting out the issues involved in defining any policy.

• Improve job performance with clear policies that help you handle people issues quickly and consistently.

Several recent court decisions, including the United States Supreme Court, have strongly suggested that employment policies can insulate a company from liability.