Manual of Operations

[callthatgirl]

How many of you have an official ManOps? I just finished mine (have had one, but it was documented in pieces) which I am binding and printing to give to the new employees. Mine turned out to be 13 pages, which includes services, pricing, employee conduct, contractor forms, hiring procedures, training procedures, a tech sheet for computer cleanings and other major troubleshooting. I intend to add on technical documentation as I come across certain repeat repairs. I do have the in store cleaning list too (which is a bit different than our remote ones) and reinstall instructions so we all do the same work, every time.

Right now was a good time to do this as I finally have the team together. Since I was the main tech for so long, I didn't really need the manops pieced together tight. Now I feel pretty good having it done on an official document.

 

[keeperofthecode]

I've been working on one little at a time. Hopefully I can get it hammered out soon.

 

[glricht]

Lisa, you willing to share with others?

 

[callthatgirl]

Yes for a donation. It took a lot of time to create this thing.

PM if you are interested.

 

[1st Call Sussex IT]

Yes we have an official manual for our staff and other information. You are right Lisa it takes time to create properly.

 

[hext]

it's definatly something I've been meaning to get around to doing...I should really put aside some time and also where to start?

 

[cmonova]

If you don't have one just do up something and make it a working document. That means you will continually tweak parts of it.

We call ours a "Procedures and Policy Handbook" but I am not going to put prices, forms, etc in it. Really only want it to cover what an employee needs to know and what is typically done in most companies.

Here's a starting point:

"Main Section"
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
"Sub Section"
Orientation
Performance Evaluations
Hours, Compensation & Benefits
Attendance and Punctuality
Pay Days
Time Sheets
Holidays
Insurance

"Main Section"
POLICIES GOVERNING EMPLOYMENT
"Sub Section"
Equal Employement Opportunity
Anti-Harassment Policy
Substance Abuse
Violence in the Workplace
Equipment, Supplies, and Properly
Personal Cell Phones
Personal Appearance

"Main Section"
VEHICLES

"Main Section"
DOWN TIME MISC

"Main Section"
SIGNATURE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

 

[Harold]

I wrote an employee handbook before I hired my first employee that covered general HR stuff like holidays and things.

Since I've had my first employee, I can see where I failed in giving him proper guidelines for the tech side of things. I have a certain way of handling each task and things that I like to do for my customers computers that he doesn't know and doesn't follow. I give him feedback all the time on how to change his processes but he really needs a checklist to follow.

I'm planning to hire my second employee within the next couple of months and I want to create a wiki that will have our company procedures so we're all on the same page for every process. I installed PHPWiki but I read some forum posts that suggested using MediaWiki or PMWiki instead. I haven't settled on a tool yet.

 

[parker.casey]

I've been writing one for a long while ... hopefully to be finished this year.

 

[vontreigo]

Yes for a donation. It took a lot of time to create this thing.

PM if you are interested.

your inbox is full

filler text..................

 

[callthatgirl]

I just opened up my inbox, I have a few requests for it so I am cleaning it up (so it's not so proprietary) and PM those back that were interested.

One guy already donated!

 

[lassenpc]

Employee Handbooks, while not legally required by employers, do serve two great functions; 1. CYA (the employee cannot say (s)he 'did not know' about something, and 2. It sets expectations. The rules / policies / procedures of the company become clearly defined for both parties, giving the employee guidance. Depending on the amount of material / how in depth it is, you can expect to take 4+ hours to review with a new hire.

Here is documentation that we review with new hires:

Customer Checklists
Backup Checklist
Checklist OS Reinstall
Checklist OS Reinstall with backup
Checklist OS Install (without backup)
Tune Up Checklist
Virus Trojan Worm Removal Checklist

Employee handbook, forms, etc
Emergency Contact Form
Employee Handbook
Equipment Issue
Employee NDA Non Disclosure Agreement
New Staff Orientation Checklist
Employee Orientation
Reimbursement Form
TIMESHEET FORM-Bi Weekly
VACATION REQUEST FORM
PTO Request Form

General Business Documents
Rates for Services 2010
Blank Support Ticket

The Employee Handbook is quite in depth; we pulled our 'original' from an .edu site, and modified to our needs, it covers:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 Changes in Policy
1.2 Employment Applications
1.3 Employment Relationship

SECTION 2 - DEFINITIONS OF EMPLOYEE STATUS

SECTION 3 - EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

3.1 Non-Discrimination
3.2 Non-Disclosure/Confidentiality
3.3 New Employee Orientation
3.4 Probationary Period for New Employees
3.5 Office Hours
3.6 Lunch Periods
3.7 Break Periods
3.8 Personnel Files
3.9 Personnel Data Changes
3.10 Inclement Weather/Emergency Closings
3.11 Performance Review and Planning Sessions
3.12 Outside Employment
3.13 Corrective Action
3.14 Employment Termination
3.15 Safety
3.16 Health Related Issues
3.17 Employee Requiring Medical Attention
3.18 Building Security
3.19 Insurance on Personal Effects
3.20 Supplies; Expenditures; Obligating the Company
3.21 Expense Reimbursement
3.22 Parking
3.23 Visitors in the Workplace
3.24 Immigration Law Compliance

SECTION 4 - STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

Attendance/Punctuality
Absence Without Notice
Harassment, including Sexual Harassment
Telephone Use
Public Image
Substance Abuse
Tobacco Products
Internet Use

SECTION 5 - WAGE AND SALARY POLICIES

SECTION 6 - BENEFITS AND SERVICES

6.1 Insurance
6.2 Cobra Benefits
6.3 Social Security/Medicare
6.4 Simple IRA
6.5 Vacation
6.6 Record Keeping
6.7 Holidays
6.8 Jury Duty/Military Leave
6.9 Educational Assistance
6.10 Training and Professional Development

SECTION 7 - EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS
7.1 Staff Meetings
7.2 Bulletin Boards
7.3 Suggestion Box
7.4 Procedure for Handling Complaints

 

[callthatgirl]

I have had many requests for this document. The donation or cost rather (for those that want to deduct it) is $25 for the manual of operations and it also includes my 22 pt computer cleaning tech sheet. It will be in a Word Doc so you can edit as you wish.

If you're interested, PM me your email and I will reply back with how to donate. Thanks everyone who has been PM'ing! Really helps me out right now, I have a lot going on with the business and this will help me buy a couple of things that I was saving up for.

Since I said I would sell it, I have had to make a few changes so it will be ready by Sunday.

 

[Appletax]

What's going on?

...................

 

[callthatgirl]

It's finally done and ready to go, if you're interested PM me or email me at lisa@callthatgirl.biz

Thanks everyone who is interested.

 

[McJack]

Very good document. TWO THUMBS UP. I like it, it will give me a good guide to start my own manual. Highly recommended along with Bruces' Business Kit. Well done and Thank you for your kind offering to TN users.

 

[callthatgirl]

Thanks McJack!

I kind of enjoy doing these types of documents. I guess I got the bug early on in my first years working at the college lab. My first book was a "How to use Word 97", wrote it in 1997. It was a 15 pager! It was for the lab attendants to use as a guide for helping the students. I remember even putting in "How to save a document to a floppy" LOL. We were a Macintosh lab for many years and moved to IBM's. The lab attendants had no clue how to do anything!

 

[xacked]

Yep, at my office we have a training manual with policy and procedures, it was 110 pages before I started whittling it down, taking out around 40 pages which I hope will be turned into a knowledge base handbook.

We maintain a wiki where we make changes to the manual, every year the wiki stuff is updated in the manual and printed for the new techs.

 

[glricht]

We maintain a wiki where we make changes to the manual, every year the wiki stuff is updated in the manual and printed for the new techs.

Do you have an actual wiki to organize the data or a bunch of files? If it's a wiki, what software are you using?

I'm ready to start something other than the bunch of text documents that I'm using now, but want to make sure I'm starting on the right foot.

 

[callthatgirl]

Hi there, not using a wiki, just a word document so you can edit your own information into it as you need it. It's 18 pages and includes information on these topics:

What’s our story
Our Mission
Our Vision
Locations
Hours
Staff information
Outside Vendors
Voicemail instructions
Services
Call That Girl Employee and Client Terms and Conditions
Call That Girl Business Information
Call That Girl Product and Pricing
Call That Girl Employee information
Human Resources Policies
Hiring Processes
New Hire training program
Employee Job Descriptions
Opening Procedures
Closing Procedures
Client Process and Procedures
How to talk to a client
How to intake a client in the store
How to outtake a client in the store
Tech Sheet for Mac Support
Tech Sheet for PC support
Tech Sheet for In Store
Technician Remote Procedure
Cleaning checklist