Employee Handbook

Employee handbook

The handbook a new starter actually reads in their first week, written for a four clinic health provider with 61 staff. Eight sections, each answering a question in under a minute: what kind of employment you are on, when you work, what leave you get, how we expect people to behave in front of patients, what you may and may not do with a patient record, the five safety rules, and how notice works when you go. It says plainly that the award and the National Employment Standards win wherever the handbook differs from them.

Create a document with OneCraft6 A4 pages, editable, then download as a PDF

The document, page by page

Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.

Employee handbook

Working Here

Northcote Health Collective, for everyone who joins us

People and Culture
Version 3.1, August 2026
Welcome
2
Your employment
2
Hours and rosters
3
Leave and time off
3
How we behave
4
Information and IT
5
Health and safety
5
When you leave
6
1 Welcome

Northcote Health Collective runs four bulk billing clinics across inner Melbourne, staffed by 61 people. This handbook is where you look things up. It is written to answer a question in under a minute, so it is short where the law is clear and longer where people get caught out.

Who to ask first
Your clinic manager. They answer most of what is in here and know the local exceptions.
Who owns it
People and Culture. We rewrite this every August and tell you what changed.
What wins
Your contract, your award and the National Employment Standards. This handbook only summarises them.
2 Your employment

Everyone here is employed under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award or the Nurses Award, depending on the role. Your letter of offer names which one, your classification and your ordinary hours.

Type
Probation
Notice in probation
Paid leave
Full time
6 months
1 week
Yes, full entitlement
Part time
6 months
1 week
Yes, pro rata
Casual
None
None required
No, 25% loading instead
2.1
Pay
Paid fortnightly on Thursday for the fortnight ending the previous Sunday. Payslips arrive by email the same morning. Superannuation is 12 percent, paid to your chosen fund by the 28th after each quarter.
2.2
Reviews
A conversation at three months, at six months, then every March. Classification moves happen at the March review and are backdated to the first pay period of that month.
2.3
Casual conversion
After twelve months of a regular pattern you can ask to move to part time. We answer in writing within 21 days and can only refuse on reasonable grounds we have to state.
3 Hours and rosters

Clinics open 7am to 7pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. The roster runs four weeks ahead in Deputy. Once published, a shift only changes by agreement, except in a genuine emergency.

Breaks
A paid ten minute break every four hours, and an unpaid thirty minute meal break on any shift over five hours.
Between shifts
Ten hours clear between the end of one shift and the start of the next. Tell your manager if a swap would break it.
Overtime
Approved before it is worked, except when a patient is mid consultation. Paid at the award rate, or taken as time off at your choice.
Swaps
Arrange it with the other person first, then log it in Deputy so payroll and the roster agree.
4 Leave and time off

Full time staff accrue 20 days of paid annual leave and 10 days of paid personal leave a year, both from the first day and both pro rata for part time staff. Neither expires.

Leave
Amount
Notice we ask for
Evidence
Annual
20 days a year
4 weeks for a break over 5 days
None
Personal and carer
10 days a year
Before your shift starts
After 2 consecutive days
Compassionate
2 days each occasion
As soon as you can
None
Parental, primary carer
14 weeks paid by us
10 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Parental, secondary carer
4 weeks paid by us
4 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Leave
Amount
Notice we ask for
Evidence
Annual
20 days a year
4 weeks for a break over 5 days
None
Personal and carer
10 days a year
Before your shift starts
After 2 consecutive days
Compassionate
2 days each occasion
As soon as you can
None
Parental, primary carer
14 weeks paid by us
10 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Parental, secondary carer
4 weeks paid by us
4 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Leave
Amount
Notice we ask for
Evidence
Annual
20 days a year
4 weeks for a break over 5 days
None
Personal and carer
10 days a year
Before your shift starts
After 2 consecutive days
Compassionate
2 days each occasion
As soon as you can
None
Parental, primary carer
14 weeks paid by us
10 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Parental, secondary carer
4 weeks paid by us
4 weeks before the date
Confirmation of the date
Christmas shutdown
The clinics close from 24 December to 2 January. Those days come out of your annual leave balance, and we confirm the exact dates each August so you can plan around them.
1
Check the roster
Look at who else is off in your team for the dates you want. The roster is in Deputy, four weeks ahead.
2
Submit the request
Put it in Deputy, not by email. That way it reaches your manager and payroll at once.
3
Wait for approval
Managers respond within five business days. Do not book flights before you have an approval.
4
If it is declined
You will be told why in writing and offered other dates. You can ask People and Culture to review it.
5 How we behave

Most of this is obvious and we will not pad it. The parts worth writing down are the ones where a clinic differs from an office: patients hear everything, and a bad moment in a waiting room is public.

5.1
In front of patients
Disagreements about a roster, a diagnosis or a colleague happen in the staff room, never at reception. If a conversation is heating up, move it.
5.2
Bullying and harassment
Repeated unreasonable behaviour that creates a risk to health is bullying, and it is not tolerated at any level of seniority. Reports go to your manager or, if that is the problem, to People and Culture directly.
5.3
Gifts
A patient may thank you with something small. Anything over 50 dollars, or any cash at all, is declined politely and logged in the gifts register at reception.
5.4
Second jobs
Allowed, and common in health. Tell your manager if the other work is clinical, so we can check fatigue and any conflict with a patient you both see.
6 Information and IT

Patient records are the most sensitive thing we hold. Access is logged, audited monthly, and looking up a record you have no clinical reason to open is a dismissal matter, not a warning matter.

Accounts
One login each, never shared, with multi factor on. Lock your screen when you step away from a consulting room.
Devices
Clinical systems on clinic devices only. Your own phone is fine for email and rosters, not for patient data.
Email and messaging
No patient identifiers in ordinary email. Use the secure messaging in the practice system.
A breach
Report it the same day, even if you caused it. Under the notifiable data breaches scheme we have 30 days to assess it.
7 Health and safety

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act we owe you a safe workplace, and you owe reasonable care to yourself and the people around you. In practice that is five things.

1
Report every incident
Including near misses and needlesticks, in the incident log the same shift. Nothing is too small.
2
Follow infection control
Hand hygiene, sharps disposal and PPE as trained. Refresher training is annual and paid.
3
Do not lift alone
Any patient transfer that feels unsafe waits for a second person. There is no target that beats a back injury.
4
Know the aggression plan
Duress buttons at every desk, and a de-escalation script on the back of your lanyard card.
5
Stop unsafe work
You can stop and raise it without penalty. That right is in the Act and we mean it.
1
Report every incident
Including near misses and needlesticks, in the incident log the same shift. Nothing is too small.
2
Follow infection control
Hand hygiene, sharps disposal and PPE as trained. Refresher training is annual and paid.
3
Do not lift alone
Any patient transfer that feels unsafe waits for a second person. There is no target that beats a back injury.
4
Know the aggression plan
Duress buttons at every desk, and a de-escalation script on the back of your lanyard card.
5
Stop unsafe work
You can stop and raise it without penalty. That right is in the Act and we mean it.
1
Report every incident
Including near misses and needlesticks, in the incident log the same shift. Nothing is too small.
2
Follow infection control
Hand hygiene, sharps disposal and PPE as trained. Refresher training is annual and paid.
3
Do not lift alone
Any patient transfer that feels unsafe waits for a second person. There is no target that beats a back injury.
4
Know the aggression plan
Duress buttons at every desk, and a de-escalation script on the back of your lanyard card.
5
Stop unsafe work
You can stop and raise it without penalty. That right is in the Act and we mean it.
8 When you leave

Notice is four weeks, or one week during probation, and we ask for it in writing. We will not hold you to notice you cannot serve for a health reason.

Final pay
In the next ordinary pay run, with unused annual leave and any loading paid out.
Exit conversation
Optional, with someone outside your reporting line, and what you say does not go to your manager.
References
We confirm dates and role to anyone who asks. A written reference is at your manager discretion.
This handbook is a summary
Your entitlements come from the National Employment Standards, your award and your contract. Where this handbook and those documents differ, they win. Questions go to people@northcotehealth.example.

Section by section

What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.

Contents
Eight numbered sections on one page, so a person looking for one answer can find which section holds it.
1 Welcome
Who the employer is, who owns the handbook, who to ask first, and the statement that the contract, the award and the National Employment Standards override anything here.
2 Your employment
A table of full time, part time and casual against probation, notice and paid leave, then clauses on pay cycles, review timing and casual conversion after twelve months.
3 Hours and rosters
Opening hours, the four week roster, paid and unpaid breaks, the ten hour gap between shifts, when overtime is approved, and how a swap is logged so payroll and the roster agree.
4 Leave and time off
Five leave types in one table with the amount, the notice asked for and whether evidence is needed, the Christmas shutdown, and the four steps of requesting leave.
5 How we behave
Four clauses specific to a clinic: disagreements out of earshot of patients, the definition of bullying, gifts over fifty dollars declined and logged, and declaring a second clinical job.
6 Information and IT
Record access logged and audited, opening a record without a clinical reason named as a dismissal matter, then account, device, messaging and breach reporting rules.
7 Health and safety
Five numbered duties: report every incident including near misses, follow infection control, never lift alone, know the aggression plan, and stop unsafe work without penalty.
8 When you leave
Four weeks notice or one in probation, final pay in the next ordinary run with leave paid out, an optional exit conversation outside the reporting line, and what a reference will say.
Closing callout
A repeat of the override statement with the contact address, so the last thing read is that the handbook only summarises the entitlements.

What makes this document work

It is eight sections, not one policy

A handbook fails when it is really a leave policy with a handbook cover. This one covers employment, hours, leave, conduct, IT, safety and exit, which is the set a new starter has questions about in week one.

It says what overrides it

The first section and the last callout both state that the award, the contract and the National Employment Standards win where they differ. That single sentence is what stops a handbook creating entitlements nobody intended.

The rules are the ones people get wrong

It skips the obvious and spends its words on the clinic specific traps: arguments within earshot of a waiting room, gifts over fifty dollars, opening a record you have no reason to open, and the ten hour gap between shifts.

Questions people ask

What should an employee handbook contain?

Employment basics, hours and rosters, leave, conduct, information and IT, health and safety, and how leaving works. Anything you would otherwise explain twice in a new starter's first week belongs in it.

Is a handbook legally binding?

Usually not by itself, and you generally do not want it to be. State clearly that the contract, the award and the National Employment Standards prevail, so the handbook stays a summary rather than a source of entitlements.

Who should own the handbook and how is a change announced?

One named team, so staff know where corrections go. In this example People and Culture owns it, rewrites it every August and tells staff what changed, and the cover carries a version number and month. A new award rate or leave entitlement between August rewrites should still trigger an update, because an out of date summary is the version people quote back.

Why does the handbook say what wins in a conflict?

Because a summary always leaves something out. The welcome section names the contract, the award and the National Employment Standards as the documents that prevail, so a shortened line in the handbook can never be read as cutting an entitlement. It also tells staff to ask their clinic manager first, which keeps the handbook short without leaving people stuck on a local exception.

Where should a handbook stop and the contract begin?

The contract carries the terms, the handbook carries the practice. This handbook covers hours and rosters, leave, conduct, IT and safety, and points at the contract for pay and notice. Keeping entitlements out of the handbook means it can be updated without reissuing anybody employment terms.

Does a handbook need a contents page?

At this length, yes. This one opens with contents listing eight numbered sections, because a handbook is a reference document that people open to answer one question. Without it a reader scrolls, gives up and asks a manager, which is the outcome the handbook was written to prevent.

Build your own in about a minute

The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.

Make one like this

Other document examples

Remote work policy template with the days, the money and the checklist

Hybrid policies fail on the three questions nobody wants to answer: how many days, who pays for the chair, and what happens if it is not working. This policy answers all three with numbers, adds the workspace checklist the safety duty requires, and keeps the security rules to the six that matter.

Personal development plan template with goals, actions and evidence

A personal development plan has to turn a career aim into a year of specific goals, dated actions, the support needed from an employer and the evidence that will show progress. This two page plan for a junior accountant sets four goals with measures, eight dated actions, five requests for support, an evidence table and monthly and quarterly reviews with a manager.

Code of conduct template with a do and do not list for each standard

A code of conduct is read once at induction and again when something goes wrong, and it has to work both times. This one keeps eight standards, gives each a short list of what to do and what not to do, sets the gift threshold and the conflict declaration as numbers and tables, and ends with how to raise a concern and what follows a breach.

Want the steps in the builder? Read Create a document with AI, then Lay out a document exactly how you want it. For everything this generator can do, see the document maker.

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .