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Broker confused about human resources issues involving staff

3 min read

Q: I am a real estate broker and my office has a staff of eight and more than two dozen agents. I understand my legal relationship with my agents but I’ve never run a company before and am confused about some of the human resources issues involving my staff. I’m always getting questions like “What are our sick leave policies?” “Are employees supposed to conform to a specific dress code?” and “Do I get paid for vacation days when I leave?” What should I do?

A: You may need an Employee Handbook. In very small companies with a lot of face-to-face interaction, a handbook probably isn’t necessary but if you are asked questions like these that need to be answered consistently or if you are planning to add more staff as you grow, creating a handbook is worth considering.

Most employees want to be successful. They are eager to know what is expected of them and how they meet and exceed expectations. A well thought out handbook will document your expectations and will describe expected performance. It will clarify work hours, dress codes, and sick or vacation leaves. The employee handbook can be a positive tool for encouraging growth, improving morale, ad aligning employee behavior with company policies.

The process of creating a handbook may help you to improve your leadership by your thinking through which policies are useful and practical. As time goes on, you will manage your employees better because objectives for each position will have been examined, benefits considered and perhaps retooled, and personnel policies will be in place before contentious issues arise. Manuals can improve employee morale, prevent disagreements and even keep the company out of court.

What to include, or not include, in an employee handbook can be a little tricky. You don’t want, for example, to create a document that can be construed as an employment contract. On the other hand, you don’t want to exclude information that exposes you to risk because you are not complying with employment law. A company with a clear and written procedure for dealing with sexual harassment, for example, would be in a much stronger position if litigation did occur than a company that hasn’t addressed a procedure for handling a sexual harassment complaint at all.

Employment laws vary from state to state so avoid relying on a generic internet tool that may not specifically address Florida law. There are some computer programs such as Policy Now that have state-specific information. If you want to be sure that what you create is Florida law compliant, ask an attorney who is knowledgeable about Employment Law and familiar with the operations of real estate companies to review your document.

Attorney Sylvia Heldreth is a Certified Specialist in Real Estate Law. Her office is located at 1215 Miramar Street in Cape Coral.

This article is not intended as specific legal advice to anyone and is based upon facts that change from time to time. Individuals should seek legal counsel before acting upon any matter involving the law.