I was in management for a large corporation for 35 years. My primary focus was organizational development and training. I was in Human Resources, senior management, and a field manager as well. I was quite comfortable writing my own operations manual and policy manual. They are works in progress, as things change and they have to remain updated and current.

Ours are used all the time. The binders have had to be replaced because they fell apart from use. And the reason is because they actually contain the information employees have a need to know and they reference them all the time. You need to make sure they're relevant to the employee's work.


If you take someone else's manual as a boilerplate or if you write your own, keep in mind that they aren't cast in stone. You can (and must) change them as needed. My advice to someone starting out is to keep it simple at first. Outline or flowchart your thoughts, have someone else who knows the business review it, and revise it as needed. You probably know a lot more than you think. The trick is getting it down correctly, concisely and clearly. That's why you need another pair of eyes to review it. Start with what you think is important and build from there. Keep it simple. One thing at a time or you'll overwhelm yourself.