Tiger Woods was recently named the 2013 PGA Tour Player of the Year, but many golf fans will remember 2013 as the year he was involved in 3 famous rules controversies.
The first incident occured at the Masters. Tiger simply forgot the fine points of a rule and made an illegal drop after hitting his ball in a pond. In the other two instances, high definition video cameras showed different angles at slow motion which resulted in split opinions on whether or not Tiger had violated a rule.
If your organization doesn't have an Employee Handbook, it needs one. If it has one that has not been updated in the past two years, it should be. Here's why:
1. A well-written handbook defines what the company expects from its employees. The rules that governed Tiger's drop at the Masters are clear. He violated them and was assessed a penalty, which he accepted.
2. A well-written handbook defines what the employee can expect from the company. High Definition television has changed the way viewers watch golf action. The USGA published a rule change in November regarding the use of high definition, slow motion video in enforcing penalties. This is a policy change that directly resulted from a change in the environment. Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan didn't have to deal with that level of scrutiny. The environment at your company has changed to. Policies that made sense five years ago, may not make sense today. Employee Handbooks must be updated as the world changes, too.
3. A well-written handbook can protect the company when challenged. If an employee or former employee accuses your company of wrongdoing, the first place their attorney and yours is going to go is to the Handbook. The USGA has a thick rule book. Yours doesn't need to be so thick, but you need to have one. The courts and the regulators expect companies to have reasonable policies and they expect them to follow them. The absence of a written policy and/or clear precedents leaves you at risk.
My advice to each of my clients: have a handbook that is written in plain English (not lawyer-speak) that has good, fair policies, and follow them.
