An Employee Handbook Your People Will Actually Read and Sign
One clear document that tells every employee how the company works: who you are, what you expect, what they can expect, and where to go with a question. We draft it from your policies, so the handbook and the rules behind it say the same thing.
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Share your requirementsWhat is employee handbook?
An employee handbook is a single document that brings a company's key policies, practices and contacts together for its employees. GullyHR drafts handbooks for growing Indian private limited companies from the company's own written policies, in plain language, with a short welcome section, summaries of each key policy with a link to the full text, a list of contacts, and an acknowledgement page. The handbook is handed to your own legal adviser for review before it is issued. We draft and review. The adviser decides what the law requires.
The starting point
When businesses ask us for this
- New joiners are told the rules in conversation and nobody can show what they were told on their first day.
- Policies sit in separate files, and employees do not know which to read or where they are kept.
- A manager and an employee remember the leave or notice rule differently, and there is nothing short to point to.
- The company has a long policy manual that nobody opens because it reads like a legal document.
- There is no record that an employee read and accepted the rules at joining.
- The handbook was copied from another business and describes benefits and practices you do not have.
- The handbook and the policies were written at different times and now contradict each other.
- The handbook has no owner, no version and no date of last review.
What the work covers
GullyHR drafts an employee handbook as the readable front door to your policies. We start with the policies you already have or those drafted in one of our packages, then agree the handbook's structure and tone with you. The handbook opens with a welcome from the founders and a short description of how the company works. It then summarises each key policy in plain language and points to the full text. It lists who to contact for each kind of question and ends with an acknowledgement page that the employee signs at joining. We set a version number, an owner and a review date, so the handbook is kept current. Confidential matters such as grievances and sexual harassment complaints are described as restricted routes, with named people. The finished handbook goes to your own qualified legal adviser for review before it is issued. This is drafting and review, not legal advice.
A welcome section sets the tone.
Who the company is, how it works, what it values and how it hopes people will work together, written in the voice of the founders.
Key policies are summarised in plain language.
Conduct, attendance, leave, hybrid work, pay process, benefits, IT use and others, each in a short section with a link to the full policy.
Contacts answer who to ask.
A list of who to contact for leave, pay, IT, grievances and confidential matters, so employees do not guess.
An acknowledgement page creates a record.
A page the employee signs at joining to confirm they have received and read the handbook, with the version and date.
The handbook matches the policies.
It is built from your written policies, so a change to a policy is a change to one summary, not a rewrite.
Versioning keeps it current.
An owner, a version, a review date and a change log, so the handbook is not out of date a year later.
The process
How it runs
Review your policies
We read the policies you have, or agree which ones to draft first through a policy package, so the handbook has something accurate to summarise.
Agree the structure and tone
We agree the sections, the length and the voice with you, and what belongs in the handbook and what stays in the full policy.
Draft the welcome and the summaries
We write the welcome section and a plain-language summary of each key policy, with a link to its full text.
Add contacts and the acknowledgement page
We add a contacts list, the restricted route for confidential matters, and an acknowledgement page with version and date.
Review with your legal adviser
The draft goes to your own qualified legal adviser. We mark open points and update the draft after their review.
Issue and keep current
You issue the handbook at joining. We set the owner, the version and the review date so it is updated when a policy changes.
What you receive
- The employee handbook in an editable format, with a welcome section.
- A plain-language summary of each key policy, linked to the full text.
- A contacts list, including the restricted route for confidential matters.
- An acknowledgement page with the version and date.
- A version, owner, review date and change log.
- A list of open points for your legal adviser.
- A short guide for managers on how to introduce the handbook at joining.
Who it is for
- Companies about to hire their first batch of employees who want a clear first-day document.
- Founder-led businesses whose rules live in conversation and need to be written down.
- Growing companies with policies in separate files who want one readable guide.
- Teams that want a signed record of what each employee was told at joining.
- Businesses with several sites or managers, where one handbook keeps the message consistent.
Why GullyHR.
The same company designs HR processes, drafts the policies, runs day-to-day HR operations for clients that want it and builds the software where acknowledgements and versions are tracked. A handbook drafted by us is therefore built from policies we understand and can keep current. Decisions stay with you, and your own legal adviser decides what the law requires.
Design the process
Map how the work runs today, then write the procedure, the forms and the approval route it should follow.
Strengthen management
Settle the structure, the roles and the decisions each level can take without the owner.
Develop people
Train the managers who have to run it — the review, the difficult conversation, the handover.
Automate HR
Configure the agreed process in software, so the document and what people actually do stay the same thing.
The difference
What changes
- Every new joiner receives one clear document on day one.
- Managers and employees point to the same written rule.
- The company holds a signed acknowledgement from each employee.
- The handbook and the policies stay consistent because one is built from the other.
- Employees know who to contact for each type of question.
- Your legal adviser receives a clean draft with open points marked.
How we are measured
Before work starts, we record where you stand. Every later report compares against that baseline.
We choose the measures with you at the start, from the list on this page, and only the ones your data can support. We do not promise a result. We promise a baseline, and a report that shows the change against it, whichever way it went.
The measures we choose from
Time-to-hire
Days from approved vacancy to accepted offer.
90-day attrition
New joiners who leave in their first three months.
Annual attrition
Leavers over the year, by team and by manager.
Payroll and statutory errors per month
Corrections after the run, and returns filed late.
Open compliance gaps
Obligations without an owner or a due date.
Employees with written goals
Share of the team that knows what it is measured on.
Review completion rate
Reviews finished on time, not just started.
Manager training coverage
Managers who have been taught the part of the job they were promoted into.
Working together
Who does what
| Activity | GullyHR | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| Structure and tone | Proposes the sections and the voice and drafts accordingly. | Approves the structure and the tone. |
| Policy content | Summarises your written policies in plain language. | Confirms the summaries match how the business works. |
| Contacts and routes | Drafts the contacts list and the confidential route. | Names the people and keeps the list current. |
| Legal review | Marks open points and hands over a reviewable draft. | Has its own qualified legal adviser review and approve it. |
| Issue and acknowledgement | Provides the acknowledgement page and a manager guide. | Issues the handbook at joining and keeps the signed pages. |
Where the software fits
The handbook is delivered as an editable document and a print-ready version. It can be kept in a shared drive, your HR system or the GullyHR software document centre, where acknowledgements and versions are recorded. Software is a separate decision and is not needed to take the service.
Ways to engage us
- Handbook from your existing policies
- A handbook built from policies you already have, with gaps and conflicts marked for you to resolve.
- Handbook with a policy package
- The handbook drafted alongside the Starter, Core or Complete package, so the two are written to match.
- Handbook refresh
- An existing handbook rewritten in plain language, brought into line with current policies and given a version and review date.
Good to know
Questions we are asked
A policy manual holds the full text of each policy. A handbook is a shorter, plain-language guide that summarises the key policies and points to the full text. Most employees read the handbook, and the policies sit behind it.
Yes, but we will mark the gaps. A handbook can only summarise rules that exist, so we recommend drafting the missing policies first or alongside it, for example through the Starter or Core package.
Short enough to be read at joining. We keep each policy summary to a page or less and link to the full text for detail. The length depends on how many policies you have.
No. The handbook summarises and points to them. If the summary and the policy differ, the policy applies, which is why we build the handbook from the policies.
We include an acknowledgement page that records receipt and reading, with the version and date. Whether it forms part of the employment terms is a matter for your legal adviser.
No. We draft and review. Your own qualified legal adviser reviews the handbook and decides what the law requires. We mark the points that need their attention.
It has an owner, a version, a review date and a change log. When a policy changes, one summary is updated and the version is raised.
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