Do I have to sign this employee document?

June 14, 2007 11:50 AM

How customary is it for employees to be required to sign a company policy document when they've already been employed for awhile?

So the management here has decided it's time to clean things up with regards to company policy. They've sent out a document that appears to be an amalgam of policies, rules and a guidebook. The final page of the document states that it's not a contract but employees are still bound to the policies. It also requires a signature that says the employee understands and accepts the policies. There's not much in the document that I consider to be unusual. However, I've never been asked to sign anything like this with these kind of conditions. Is it customary? (in California)

posted by quadog to Work & Money (15 answers total)

At a major financial institution I worked at for over six years, we were required to sign and acknowledge the "Code of Ethics" document annually. (This was in California.)
posted by Asherah at 11:55 AM on June 14, 2007

This has happened to me twice (hired with no guidelines, asked to sign something adopted later), once in a major nonprofit, once in a mid-sized online graduate school. I don't think it's unusual for a company to decide to formalize policies and make an official employee handbook. I've had more jobs than that where there was a preexisting employee handbook that required I sign a statement that I understood the policies and agreed to abide by them. As far as I'm concerned it's pretty normal and also perfectly appropriate.
posted by nanojath at 12:00 PM on June 14, 2007

It's normal, although it's not really that common.
posted by caddis at 12:04 PM on June 14, 2007

Thirding Fourthing the above. Employees where I work have to acknolwedge receipt of our organization's policies and procedures annually (there's probably an agreement of some sort that we are signing as well, to the effect that we will abide by them - honestly, I just sign the dang thing and hand it over without reading it). There are other specific policies that are 'renewed' on a regular basis and must be signed for, such as permission to drive a company car for official business. It's no big deal and it is smart for the organization because then later on, should trouble arise, you can't plead ignorance of the rules.
posted by contessa at 12:05 PM on June 14, 2007

At my hospital we are constantly required to sign new policies as state, federal, JCAHO, and others require new standards to be developed. The last round of everyone having to sign another piece of paper was in regard to a new electronic signature policy necessitated by our moving toward an electronic medical record.
posted by TedW at 12:21 PM on June 14, 2007

We get a new employee handbook every other year or so. There's a page in the back we have to sign, tear out, and turn in.
posted by carsonb at 12:25 PM on June 14, 2007

We sometimes amend policies if we have issues with the old ones. Therefore we have all existing and new employees sign a little piece of paper with the policy in detail, and we keep it in their permanent employee file. That way, our butts are covered if an employee does something stupid related to the policy.
posted by Verdandi at 12:35 PM on June 14, 2007

Nth-ing the normalcy.
posted by iguanapolitico at 12:42 PM on June 14, 2007

We have to either review last year's documents or read updated documents every year. If you disagree with any of the policies now is probably the time to speak up.
posted by muddgirl at 12:53 PM on June 14, 2007

N+1thing the 'signing policy books is standard in large companies'. We had to do it (electronically, not in ink) every year at IBM.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:16 PM on June 14, 2007

I received one several years after I started working at my current company. I didn't sign it even though they asked me to, but also haven't heard anything about it since. It's been two+ years since it was handed out. I'm going to chalk it up to a lazy HR department though.
posted by zackola at 2:01 PM on June 14, 2007

I work for a large state university. Every time we have a policy change, we end up having to log into the online HR thing and agree to changes and/or reaffirm our acceptance.
posted by SpecialK at 2:43 PM on June 14, 2007

It's pretty normal. But definitely DO go over it closely.

A studio I worked for ages ago did the very same thing...a document containing company policies, etc. We were supposed to sign it. And then one of the artists noticed a little clause tucked deep inside that said, basically, that the studio claimed ownership of any independent art or ideas the artists developed for their own use, outside of the studio.
Needless to say, a re-write of company policy was immediately called-for.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:02 PM on June 14, 2007

1: go over it closely, as others suggest.

2: if you are the only one being asked to sign it, be very wary, especially if there's no date on it, as they may be establishing (retroactively) paper trails for firing you.
posted by davejay at 4:43 PM on June 14, 2007

I've signed several such things in the 10 years I've worked here. A few were new policies as a direct result of someone "breaking" the previously non-existent policy, and one was a "let's get our sh*t together" employee handbook.
posted by clh at 7:05 PM on June 14, 2007