Employee handbook template for Australian small business
The workplace policies the law now expects you to have, in one pack.
Ready in about 15 minutes
What this document does
You pick the policies that fit your business and the pack assembles them into one handbook, from a code of conduct through to computer monitoring. It covers the duties that changed recently, including the positive duty to prevent sexual harassment, psychosocial safety, the right to disconnect and casual conversion. The wording keeps the handbook a guide rather than a contract, so a missed step in your own procedure does not become a breach claim against you. An Australian solicitor reviewed and approved the template.
The questions we’ll ask
Your business
Who people go to
Choose your policies — the compliance core
Choose your policies — how people work
Choose your policies — process and extras
Process contacts
You preview the finished document with your answers in it before you pay a cent.
A solicitor drafting the same document from scratch: $300+ per hour.
This document: $79 once.
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Questions people ask.
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- Do I legally need an employee handbook?
- No single law requires one, but several duties are hard to meet without written policies. The positive duty to prevent sexual harassment expects a policy, training and a reporting pathway, and safety law expects a documented system. The handbook is how a small business shows both.
- Will the handbook become part of my employment contracts?
- It is drafted so it does not. The pack states it is not a contract, uses guidance language throughout, and the employee acknowledgement is a receipt, never an agreement to the policies as contract terms. Courts have held employers to handbook promises before, and this wording is built to avoid that.
- Which policies should I turn on?
- The pack recommends a core set and defaults them on: respectful workplace, safety, code of conduct, pay, leave, right to disconnect, casuals, technology, privacy, grievances and discipline. Remote work and expenses are there when you need them. Turning a recommended policy off is a deliberate choice the form will flag.
- Does it cover monitoring employees' computers?
- Yes, as an option. In NSW and the ACT you must give employees a notified computer-surveillance policy before you can lawfully monitor their computer use, and the pack builds one in with the 14-day notice mechanics. In other states the same section is included as good practice.
- What about pay rates and restraints?
- They belong in the employment contract, not the handbook, so the pack deliberately leaves them out and points to the contract instead. Keeping them separate is part of what keeps the handbook non-contractual.
- Is this a subscription?
- No. It is $79 once. No monthly fee, no auto-renewal. Update the details and re-issue it when your policies change.
Often needed next
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$79 once, no subscription required, ready in about 15 minutes.