Valve's Creative, Hold your Belly Laughter Inducing and Amazingly Practical New Employee Handbook!

Just came across the Valve- New Employee Handbook. What a fun way to onboard employees! Out with the old drab manuals and in with this fun and practical, all you want to know about us awesomeness! (For those of you who have never heard of Valve: Valve is the developer of the Half-Life and Counter Strike videogame series.)

The handbook is a great example of sharing the Organizations values (which usually ends up as a poster gathering dust on the wall) and culture and defining basic expectations from employees. This is Organizational branding at its best and should go a long way in managing early attrition.

Some gems from the Handbook include:

How to Use this book: This handbook is about the choices you’re going to be making and how to think about them. Mainly, it’s about how not to freak out now that you’re here

Your First Day: Why does your desk have wheels? Think of those wheels as a symbolic reminder that you should always be considering where you could move yourself to be more valuable. But also think of those wheels as literal wheels, because that’s what they are, and you’ll be able to actually move your desk with them.

      On Working Hours: While people occasionally choose to push themselves to work some extra hours at times when something big is going out the door, for the most part working overtime for extended periods indicates a fundamental failure in planning or communication. If this happens at Valve, it’s a sign that something needs to be reevaluated and corrected. If you’re looking around wondering why people aren’t in “crunch mode,” the answer’s pretty simple. The thing we work hardest at is hiring good people, so we want them to stick around and have a good balance between work and family and the rest of the important stuff in life. My favourite section is towards the end: “What Valve is not good at?” Helping people find their way!

      Epilogue: What we are not good at? Helping new people find their way!

        Epilogue: What happens when all this stuff doesn’t work? “We are all stewards of our long-term relationship with our customers. They watch us, sometimes very publicly, make mistakes. Sometimes they get angry with us,” the handbook states. “But because we always have their best interests at heart, there’s faith that we’re going to make things better, and that if we’ve screwed up today, it wasn’t because we were trying to take advantage of anyone.”

        Glossary: WFH—Working From Home. What to do if a single snowflake falls out of the sky.

(To view the handbook go here: http://newcdn.flamehaus.com/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.pdf)