Steve A
I recently revised our Employee Handbook with all of the basic things that new employees need to know when they start and older employees might need to look at every once in a while when something comes up that is now impacting them that didn't before. Looking at the old version, I noticed that several sections were also policies in the policy manual. Upon further research, I discovered that the policies had been revised and approved, while the handbook had been used for several years without change.
I made the Handbook mirror the policies that were in force. Then I noted in each section of the Handbook that had a related policy, what the policy number/title was and where it could be found in our policy manuals. I think having a freestanding policy for each topic is a good thing, but they need to be identified in any other document where they are used that they are out there and referenced in the handbooks with a note advising the employees to check the policy before acting on the information in the handbook.