The ritual — apply for a job, get hired, go to an orientation, receive an employee handbook, then set it on the shelf. And there it collects dust. Until the employee, the rare employee because most employees move on with their lives, gets fired and hires a lawyer. Then the employee handbook comes out. And its utility is vindicated — at least as a legal document. The Tribune Company (parent company of LA Times and Chicago Tribune) is testing whether the employee handbook can be more than a legal handbook. Can it also change the company’s culture? Can it be a document that the employees actually read and understand?
The Tribune thinks it can. The Tribune’s CEO, Sam Zell, issued a new employee handbook for its employees. His intent is to change the Tribune’s culture. This is not your father’s employee handbook. Here is its section on personal relationships:
You may want to think twice before you enter into an intimate relationship with a co-worker. When you start, it might seem like a good idea. It’s when you stop, or the wrong people find out (and they will) that you could discover that perhaps it wasn’t.
This section doesn’t have the wherefores, the herebys, and the all-encompassing list. It’s a straight-forward, plain english warning to Tribune’s employees. I don’t know its legal shortcomings; but it just might prevent an employee from entering into a relationship with a co-worker. The employee might actually read the eleven-page document. The employee might remember that the handbook said something about personal relationships and take the employee handbook off the shelf and refer to the section on personal relationships. The employee handbook just might be useful in the workplace and not just the courthouse.
Thanks to Overlawyered for its post where I learned about this story.
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