As a historic community, the Town of Clarkdale has long demonstrated its commitment to providing the most cutting-edge and up-to-date amenities for its residents and its employees. The Town’s employee handbook, Personnel Policies and Procedures Manual, has received minor updates since its adoption in 2006. However, the employee handbook is due for a thorough review due to the ever-evolving state and federal law and a shifting professional environment.
Human resource management is a vital tool in facilitating a safe and efficient work environment. While the field mostly comprises policies and procedures related to hiring, disciplinary action, and strategies for employee retention, the field is also a strategic approach to employer-employee management. In a growing body of literature related to best human resource practices, there is an increasing demand for reevaluating existing policies related to employee leave, disciplinary action, and rapidly changing state and federal mandates. These challenges are particularly pertinent in Arizona communities with the recent passage of Prop 207, which legalized recreational marijuana usage.
Four graduate students from Malcolm Goggin and LaDawn Lingard’s PAF 509 Public Affairs Capstone course each picked several sections from Clarkdale’s employee handbook to review. Each student conducted an extensive literature review of human resource practices and identified peer communities to review their employee handbooks. Following the review, students recommended policy improvements for Clarkdale’s handbook.
The student reports review several key sections of Clarkdale’s handbook, covering an array of topics from employee leave policies, hiring, and performance evaluations to new policies for a rapidly changing professional landscape. Throughout their findings, the students recommend continuous and collaborative updates to the handbook and a careful reevaluation of the language in the handbook.