Strongly Encouraged Policies

This section includes policies that are Strongly Encouraged to have in an employment handbook. Strongly encouraged policies are either highly recommended for legal or procedural reasons. Click through the policies in the right side tab.

Well-drafted employment handbooks provide concise, relevant guidelines that supply necessary information to employees. Because every organization has different needs and procedures, the policies that you include in your handbook may differ from those of other organizations.

In some cases, legal and risk management issues will dictate that you include certain guidelines.

For purposes of simplicity, we’ve used the terms your ministry, business administrator, and your organization to refer to the operations covered by the handbook. You may choose to change the wording to suit your specific
ministry or to refer to the appropriate department or contact person.

When language is italicized in the sample policy, it’s either variable or only necessary under certain conditions. For example, additional language may be necessary for certain policies only if employees sign employment contracts.


The sample policies and related documents in the Working Together site are intended to be a template for you and your legal counsel to use in developing your own customized program. We recognize that every faith-based employer is different, and policies and procedures must address the particular needs of each organization. We believe that you’ll find the materials in this booklet valuable, either as a starting point in developing a new program or in reviewing and updating an existing program.

As with all documents of this nature, it’s important that you ask an attorney in your area to review the policies in the handbook before you implement them. This step will help ensure that the documents have been properly drafted and that all relevant legal considerations have been addressed. Your legal counsel should also review the handbook on a regular basis after implementation to make certain that it remains current with changes in the legal environment.