As referenced in the post about New Hire Kits, employee handbooks are often an integral (and in some instances, necessary) item included among the branded products welcoming a new employee to the company/organization. When approaching the printing of an employee handbook, here are a few key questions to answer before embarking on the project.
How Many to Print?
The size of your company or organization in terms of the number of employees determines, if it’s the first time printing an employee handbook, the quantity of an initial print run. For companies/organizations with an ongoing program of providing employee handbooks, the amount of employee acquisition or turnover in any given year will answer how many handbooks should be printed in a given print run.
How Frequently is the Handbook Updated?
For some companies/organizations, the information in the handbook may have a shelf life of several years; for others, ongoing changes in critical information may require updates once, twice, or several times a year. If the latter scenario describes your company/organization’s need, there are binding options (e.g., 3-ring binder, comb binding) that would accommodate adding updated content pages and/or removing outdated material without incurring the costs of re-printing the entire handbook.
Print Full Color?
Typically, because employee handbooks are informational in intent and not promotional, color printing is seen as a luxury and not a necessity. It’s always possible to use a colored cover paper stock to provide some visual excitement beyond just black ink on a white paper stock. Also, because employee handbooks are not meant for viewing by the general public, there’s less impetus for showcase quality printing.
Expected Usage
As mentioned above, employee handbooks may be intended to have a shelf life of several years or require ongoing updates. For the former case, a somewhat higher quality paper stock would be an appropriate choice; for the latter, the least expensive paper stock would suffice.
What Binding Method to Use?
The first question to answer is “How many pages are there in the employee handbook?” For 64 pages and less, saddle-stitch binding is the most economical choice. For higher page counts, perfect binding would be an appropriate choice. Coil binding is also an option. However, for employee handbooks where information is updated frequently, a 3-ring binder is ideal: pages can be added/removed with ease. Comb binding also allows for the insertion and removal of pages utilizing plastic rings instead of the typical metal rings found in 3-ring binders.
If you have any questions about Employee Handbooks, give us a call at 330-597-8560. We’re happy to help you get the most out of your printing project.
Photo by Nathan Aguirre
