As another year begins, it's important for employers to review their employee handbooks in order to keep up with compliance as well as the latest HR trends.
Here is everything you need to know about updating your employee handbook for 2025.
How to Review Your Handbook
When reviewing your employee handbook as a new year begins, there are to key areas to focus on: compliance and company culture.
Compliance, though complicated, is rather straightforward. Do you have policies in place? Are they compliant? Are all required inclusions in your handbook?
Company culture, on the other hand, requires careful consideration and a great deal of thought. These components aren't required but are important in order to make your business appealing, keep your employees satisfied, and ensure you're competitive in your market for talent.
Here is a guide on reviewing your employee handbook for compliance and company culture for 2025. Companies may want to consider an HR SWOT Analysis as their method for reviewing the following:
2025 Employee Handbook Compliance Updates
There are five areas in which employers and HR teams should review their employee handbooks for compliance updates in 2025:
- Anti-Harassment Policies
- Employee Classification and FLSA Overtime Exemptions
- Parental and Family Leave Policies
- Remote Work and Hybrid Policies (Recommended if Applicable, Not Required)
- Review State and Local Laws
Before you begin your review, it's important to note how many full-time employees you have, and how many you had in the year prior. As your organization grows, so does the list of applicable laws and policies to include.
Reviewing Anti-Harassment Policies in 2025
Incidents of harassment in any form can be harmful to an organization in many different ways, and a proactive approach is the best way to combat this.
Each year, employers and HR teams should review their anti-harassment policies and company requirements, including:
- The definition of harassment in their handbook
- Ensure the definition is up to date with all federal, state, and local laws
- The procedures around harassment
- Ensure that the reporting procedures for incidents are compliant, and still work (i.e. if someone in the process is no longer with your company)
- Ensure that policies on investigations are compliant
- Training programs
- Ensure that mandatory trainings are stated and explained thoroughly in your handbook
Reviewing Employee Classification and FLSA Overtime Exemptions in 2025
Compliance around employee classification and overtime exemptions has been a whirlwind over the past year or so. As such, this is a crucial part of your handbook to review.
Some states have their own overtime exemption salary threshold requirements. If this applies to you, review to see if there was an increase for your state.
If not, it's important to review the recent FLSA Federal Court ruling and the new overtime exemption requirement as of November 2024, and understand who in your company is classified as exempt and who is not.
Reviewing Parental and Family Leave Policies in 2025
This is another crucial one, as many companies can go from no requirements to a big one in a blink, as many leave laws, both federal and local, rely on employer size.
For instance, employers with 50 or more employees are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
It's important to review any state laws as well and see if they apply to your business, especially if your organization has grown. Additionally, states quite frequently pass new leave laws (usually a couple each year), so there may be a new requirement that you have yet to include in your handbook.
Reviewing Remote Work and Hybrid Policies in 2025
While remote and hybrid work has been quite normal since the COVID-19 pandemic, more companies every day are formally adopting the practice. Even if they ended the practice post-pandemic, many are re-implementing it in order to stay competitive in their talent market.
Many companies, however, don't have thorough policies around remote and hybrid work. Employers and HR teams should review these policies, or implement them entirely, with the following in mind:
- Availability and work hours
- Ensure expectations are set for working hours and availability for remote and hybrid employees
- Company-provided equipment / technology
- Ensure expectations around company-provided equipment and technology, such as responsibilities, IT support, and IP security
- Set expectations for communication
- It's important to include expectations for communication and engagement for workers in a remote or hybrid work environment
Keeping these expectations in place not only helps protect you, but also helps to ensure a productive hybrid workforce or remote workforce.
Review State and Local Laws in 2025
Lastly, it's important for employers and HR teams to review any new compliance updates or laws in their state, and ensure that they are reflected appropriately in their employee handbooks.
For instance, 14 states alone implemented new labor laws as of January 1st, 2025.
2025 Employee Handbook Company Culture Updates
As we head into 2025, new HR trends are something to be aware of. And some of them may effect what you want to include in your employee handbook.
Some HR trends that may warrant inclusion in your employee handbook in 2025 may include remote or hybrid work as mentioned above, employee well-being and stress, as well as the use of AI in the workplace.
Employee Well-Being, Stress, and Mental Health
Employee well-being, stress, and mental health is one of the most important topics in HR heading into 2025, as it's one of the most sought-after things by applicants and workers.
As such, many companies are and have implemented initiatives around caring for their employees' well-being. Whether you have such programs or intend to start one, an employee handbook is a good place to remind employees that they exist, and how to access such benefits.
The Use of AI in the Workplace
Over the last year or so, the use of AI in the workplace has exploded. No matter your opinion on the use of AI in the workplace, you may want to consider including policies around the use of AI in your handbook.
For instance, you may not want employees to use AI for certain uses, or you may want to state that you don't leverage AI tools in your recruitment or review process or decisions.
Get Your Employee Handbook Reviewed
Looking for assistance with reviewing your employee handbook for 2025? Contact us today to learn how we can help.
Or perhaps you may want to consider HR Outsourcing & Consulting Services.
