Employee Manual Development Tool Version 7.0. User Guide

Transcription

1 rotecting entists. t s all e do. Employee Manual Development Tool Version 7.0 User Guide Developing Effective Employment Practices A guide for dentists The Dentists Insurance Company Page 1

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Preface... 2 Employer Information Screen... 3 Categories and Topics / Reference Guide... 4 Opening the Software... 6 Software has not been closed... 7 Creating Your Manual... 8 Saving Your Manual... 9 Formatting and Changing Your Document Printing Your Final Copy Technical Information and Support TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 1

3 Introduction Here is the Employee Manual Development Tool Version 7.0. Having a complete, up-todate manual is the first step in establishing office policies and minimizing possible employee litigation. TDIC s Employee Manual Development Tool (EMDT) is a complete set of written policies covering issues for every dental office. Simply read through the policies, decide what to include, edit the text where needed, and print. The EMDT is the easiest way to create personnel policies customized to your practice. This guide will assist you with the software application. Please print and read it carefully to understand how to operate the software. Before calling for technical assistance, check this guide to see if your issue is addressed. Preface Each time you open the software program, the TDIC Preface screen will appear. Carefully read the preface, and click OK to continue or Exit to close the program. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 2

4 Employer Information Screen The first time you open your software, the Employer Information screen will appear. You will be prompted to enter information to customize your manual. Be sure to correctly spell your information. Select the pronouns and your state from the drop down menus, and click Save or Exit. (Note: If you cannot clearly see the second line of text under the supervisor s job title, you may need to change the screen resolution for your computer monitor. To do so, follow your computer manufacture s instructions.) You may only review the information that was entered on the Employer Information screen when no active document is open. To review this screen, select Tools from the menu bar and click on Employer Information, or simply press the F7 command key on your keyboard. This message will appear if any information is missing. You must complete every field before continuing. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 3

5 Once you have successfully completed the Employer Information screen and clicked on Save, the following message will appear. Select Yes to create a new manual or No to exit the program. (Note: If you select No, the data on the Employer Information screen will still be saved.) Categories and Topics / Reference Guide Categories and Topics are a complete set of all the policies, tips and applicable state laws included in the EMDT. Before you begin to build your manual, TDIC suggests that you print the Reference Guide from the Categories and Topics window. Use this guide for determining which policies you want to include and writing the language for policies that will be specific to your office. To view and print the complete Reference Guide of Categories and Topics: 1) Click on Tools from the main toolbar. 2) Select Categories and Topics. 3) A new window will open which shows all the mandatory and optional policies. 4) To view a specific policy, click on the policy name in the left window. 5) To print all the categories and topics, click on Reference Guide, File and Print. Review the content of all mandatory and optional titles. Those sections that are mandatory have a red dot ( ) in front of them. Optional categories have a green dot ( ). The following data fields will auto fill when you create your manual: [dentist s name] [he/she] [employer s name] [his/her/its] [job title(s)] [telephone number] The following data fields must be manually filled and formatted within your document. These fields will show in blue: [day of week] [time a.m./p.m.] [number] [job classification] TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 4

6 Informational text (shown in green) appears in the bottom right side box of the Categories and Topics window. Where applicable, reference is made to state laws. These references are for informational purposes only and will not print in your final employee manual. Use the printed Reference Guide to determine which optional policies to include, help write specific policies for your office, learn applicable state laws, and format the necessary data fields. TDIC strongly recommends that you gather all of the necessary information before starting your manual in the software application. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 5

7 Opening the Software After you have gathered all the information that you want to include in your manual, you may return to the software. To open the software, double click on the TDIC Employee Manual 7.0 icon located on your computer desktop. OR From the Start menu: 1. Go to Programs 2. Go to TDIC Employee Manual Click on TDIC Employee Manual 7.0 TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 6

8 When the software opens, an empty window will appear. To start a new manual using the employer information that you inserted earlier, click on the New Employee Manual command button on the toolbar, or select New Employee Manual from the File menu. Software has not been closed: If you selected Yes at the Start New Manual screen, and the software is still open, your screen should appear as below. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 7

9 Creating Your Manual When a blank document is open, you may begin assembling your manual. Using your notes from the printed Reference Guide, select all of the optional policies that you want to include in your manual by clicking on the before the optional policy. When a policy is selected, the box will appear. Once you have checked all mandatory and optional policies you want to include in your manual, click Add Checked located in the middle of the suggtext window. All of the marked policies will now be added to the document window. The suggtext window will now show a check mark over the colored dot, or, which indicates that you have included this policy in your manual. If you realize that you forgot to add an optional policy after clicking Add Checked, you may still do so: Only one optional policy may be added at a time after the mandatory policies have been inserted into the document window. Click in the document window exactly where you would like the optional policy added. Click on the title of the optional policy in the suggtext window; do not check the box. (Note: When you click on the title, the policy will appear at the bottom of the suggtext window.) TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 8

10 Finally, click Add Highlighted in the suggtext window. The following message will appear before the text is added: If you are certain that your cursor is placed correctly, click Yes. If not, click No and place your cursor where the text is to be added in your document. Saving Your Manual Once your policies have been added to the document window, save your manual. This is important so that your data will not be lost if you must exit the program prior to completion. To save your manual, click on the Save command button Save from the File menu. on the toolbar, or select The Save screen will open. Name your document by typing it in the File name box. Write down the file name and path before clicking on the Save button. You are now ready to continue working on your employee manual, or you may close the program and work at a later time. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 9

11 Formatting and Changing Your Document When all of the desired policies have been added to your document, you will need to complete the data fields and format the text. First, locate any data field in your document that needs to be completed (see page 6). Place your cursor before the blue text and type the requested information. Next, delete the text in [blue], and continue until all data fields have been filled. If the new text appears in blue, highlight it with your cursor and click on the Font Color command button on the toolbar, or select Color Palette from the View menu. Select the desired color, and click OK. You may now add, change or delete any text throughout the document. You may also change the font style and/or size to your desire. (Shortcut Tip: You may change all of the text in the document window to the same color at one time. Simply place your cursor anywhere in the document window, hold down the Ctrl button on your keyboard, and press the A key. All of the text in your document will be selected and shown as highlighted in black. Next, change the font color from the Color Palette as instructed above.) (Note: For the advanced computer user, you may open your document in your word processing software and format there.) Printing Your Final Copy Once all of your policies have been added and you have customized your document, you are ready to print. Click on the Print command button on the toolbar, or select Print from the File menu. Review the printed copy. You may need to add additional line returns in order to create page breaks within your document. Before distributing your completed employee manual to your employees, have an attorney who specializes in the employment laws of your city, county and state review it. Once approved, regularly review your employment practices with your attorney to ensure you are in compliance with the law. While an employee manual is designed to protect you from potential problems in the workplace, it is not a guarantee of prevention of future lawsuits that may arise out of your employment practices. Technical Information and Support This software will run on the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 or Windows Server 2003 SP2, 2008, TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 10

12 If you require technical assistance with the software or clarification on any policy included in the Employee Manual Development Tool, please call TDIC Risk Management at option 2. TDIC Employee Manual Development Tool User Guide 11