Understanding Arizona Employee Handbook Requirements
As the demand for innovative and energy-efficient architectural designs continues to rise, it is essential to address how the business side of architecture fits into the picture. With more demanding project requirements than ever from building owners, as well as new, often complex, building codes present, how can an architectural firm promote a positive culture within the organization that allows for this demanding work to take place, while also staying on top of the legal nuts and bolts? Understanding and implementing key Arizona employee handbook requirements is one legal requirement that can impact and even help to develop this resulting culture within an architectural practice.
An overview of Arizona employee handbook requirements is a good place to start when discussing how they can apply to an architectural practice. Aside from the general handbook recommendations detailed in our recently-published guide, key requirements that commonly affect architectural firms include the following:
- Some degree of routine is necessary for every organization. Whether it is structured in a manner that gives employees clarity on what to expect within the organization, or in a way that gives leadership the research they need to make the right decisions, having routine can be universally beneficial, and even healing, in a workspace.
- Surprisingly, a well-developed employee handbook is a great way to explore how to define and implement that routine, while also making space for creative freedom among your staff. It can even be a tool that will help your team develop a corporate culture that promotes progress and productivity.
To reiterate, the basic function of an employee handbook is to provide a consistent and comprehensive resource for employees to refer to when questions come up about company policies or procedures. In architectural or construction settings, guidelines for additional work that may come up with a project or with a contract are common. You may have a protocol for handling extra tasks that were not in the original plan. You may even have rules about certain tasks that may not be done at all by unlicensed professionals. Along with these specifications, an employee handbook can help to bring order into your unique work environment by providing a space for regularly reassessing your expectations, and formalizing them within your handbook so that everyone is on the same page.
In presenting the array of rules and standards that exist within your practice, your employee handbook needs to be accompanied by a clear communication plan. A basic story that this can help tell is how the membership of your architectural practice is not just a collection of employees, but rather the workplace represents a community of stakeholders who are collectively responsible for maintaining the service provided and the environment in which it is provided. The handbook can be the primary source of information for the values of that community. Your team is no doubt working under the pressure of frequently-changing deadlines and project specifications. This often means that existing work takes place in the form of project-specific teams that change continually. Taking the time to create a policy (and include that policy in the handbook) about how to address often-changing project expectations can further instill a sense of dedication in the minds of your project teams, while also presenting potential legal risk if existing contractual terms are not met.
To conclude this overview, consider how failing to set clear performance standards for your project-based teams can open the door to potential legal liability. In the event that your practice gets sued or is taken to court, your defense strategy will likely focus on what expectations were set, both in terms of the contract with owner and with the employees involved. How well your employees understand those expectations is therefore crucial to whether or not you can avoid liability.
Completely fulfilling the requirements for an employee handbook is not about sticking to a script that is handed down from corporate HR. It is about helping your architectural practice become a progressive innovator – something that the clear expectations outlined in each section will often lead to. By using your handbook as a dynamic tool that your employees can learn from, even subtract from, and add to when needed, your practice will be able to position itself far ahead of its market competitors – not just for the sake of legal compliance, but for the achievement of excellence in architectural design as well.