Gusto's Employee Handbook tool lets you create, customize, and distribute a compliant employee handbook without starting from scratch. The handbook comes pre-drafted with policies based on federal law, best practices, and state requirements for the states Gusto supports, so you can focus on reviewing and personalizing rather than writing from the ground up.
Once published, your handbook works like a custom document. Team members get an email to view, acknowledge, or sign it in Gusto, and they can download a PDF copy anytime.
The Employee Handbook tool is part of HR Resources. Whether you can use it depends on your plan and your admin role.
Note: The Employee Handbook tool covers federal requirements plus the states listed below. Gusto is adding more states over time.
States the tool supports today
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
If you have employees in a state that is not on this list, your handbook still covers federal requirements, and you can add a custom policy for that state's requirements. Gusto points you to that state's labor agency website as a starting resource for what to include. Industry-specific policy guidance is not available yet for any state.
To open your handbook:
Go to People then HR Resources.
Select Employee Handbook.
Select View your handbook to open the handbook overview. You’ll see the following sections:
Company name and logo — Gusto automatically pulls in your existing company logo. Go to your company settings if you need to update it.
Handbook at a glance — A summary of key details about your business, like your state and employee count, that shaped the included policies.
Scroll down to see the full table of contents, organized into these sections:
Employment fundamentals
Time off and leave
Pay and time
Behavior and safety
Performance and hiring
Benefits
Leaving the organization
Each policy in the table of contents is tagged to help you understand its significance:
Legally required — This policy is required by state or federal law.
Reduces risk — This policy is not legally required, but there are compliance implications worth addressing.
You’ll also see an Unused policies section. These are policies not currently included in your handbook that are available to add whenever you’re ready.
To edit a policy:
Select the pencil icon in the top right of the policy, or select the policy itself.
Make your changes in the drawer that opens on the right side.
Select Save.
Any editable content appears underlined in the policy text. Select an underlined field to edit that specific detail. When you do, you’ll also see context about why the policy is included along with helpful tips.
Note: Your handbook autosaves as a whole, so you can come back and finish editing later. However, changes to a specific policy or a new custom policy are not saved until you select Save or Add policy. If you close the drawer before saving, those changes will be lost.
What you can edit depends on the policy type:
Custom policies — You have full editing control.
Legally required or best practice policies — These are partially editable to keep them compliant. For example:
Equal opportunity and discrimination prevention — You can update which employees it applies to and whether it covers all federally protected characteristics.
Harassment prevention — You can adjust who it applies to, the investigation process, training frequency, and bystander intervention training.
Paid sick leave — You can update the accrual rate, who the leave can be used for, and similar details.
Policies are pre-written with compliance in mind, which is why full editing is not available for all of them. If you need more flexibility, consider creating a custom policy and removing the existing one.
To remove a policy:
Open the edit drawer.
Select Remove from handbook at the bottom.
Review any warning that appears if the policy is legally required, then confirm.
You have two options for adding policies to your handbook:
Add a Gusto-created policy — Browse the available library and add policies to your handbook.
Add a custom policy — Write any policy specific to your industry or company. When adding a custom policy, you’ll choose which section of the handbook it belongs in.
Pro tip: Use the three-line menu in the top left to jump between sections without scrolling through the entire handbook.
You can preview the employee view of your handbook before publishing to see exactly what your team will see. To preview, select More in the top right, then select the preview option.
To publish your handbook:
Select Publish.
Choose who receives it — all current team members, specific individuals or departments, or future hires only.
Choose whether team members need to sign to acknowledge receipt.
Confirm to publish.
After publishing, you’ll get confirmation that your handbook is live. Team members get an email letting them know they have a handbook to view, acknowledge, or sign in Gusto. This email is sent once, so follow up with team members directly if you need to remind them.
The employee experience for viewing, signing, and downloading the handbook works the same as it does for any custom document.
Once your handbook is published, you can preview, download, rename, update recipients, and view signature status the same way you would for any other custom document.
You can also continue editing your handbook after it's been published. When you're ready to push updates, republish the handbook. Here's what to expect:
The previous version is automatically archived
Team members who already signed the original version retain their signed copy
Archived versions are visible in the Documents tab
Team members are not automatically asked to sign the updated version — when you republish, you can choose whether to send it out again for signature
Your handbook does not update automatically when a law changes or a policy is revised. If your handbook was published with an earlier version of a policy, or a new policy requirement applies to your business, you need to apply the change yourself and re-share the handbook with your team.
To apply an updated policy, remove the previous version of the policy from your handbook, then add it again from the Gusto policy library.
Gusto tells you about relevant law changes through HR Law Updates.
Q: Why am I unable to edit some policies freely?
A: Policies are partially editable by design. Limiting full editing helps keep your handbook compliant with state and federal requirements and helps you focus on the decisions that matter most. If you need more flexibility, add a custom policy and remove the existing one. When you add a custom policy, you choose which section it belongs in.
Q: What if I have employees in a state Gusto does not support yet?
A: Your handbook still covers federal requirements, and you can add a custom policy for that state's requirements. Gusto points you to that state's labor agency website as a starting resource for what to include. For guidance on compliance in a state Gusto does not support yet, ask an HR Expert. If you build a handbook before Gusto supports your state, you need to rebuild it once that state is live. Your earlier handbook stays available, but you need to enter your policies again.
Q: Does my handbook update automatically when laws change?
A: No. If your handbook was published with an earlier version of a policy, or a new policy requirement applies to your business, remove the previous version of the policy, add it again, then re-share the handbook with your team.
Q: Do existing policies, like PTO and time tracking, pull from my Gusto settings? Does making a change in the handbook update these in Gusto?
A: Not yet. Gusto does not automatically pull from your existing settings, and changes made in the handbook do not update those settings either. You need to enter those details manually for now. This integration is planned for a future update.
Q: Do team members need to sign the handbook again if I make changes?
A: Not automatically. After you republish an updated handbook, you can choose whether to send it out again for signature.
Q: What do I do with an employee handbook from a previous provider, like Mineral?
A: Upload it to the Documents tab in Gusto. Go to Shared documents to upload your handbook. For more about what changes as Gusto moves these tools in-house, see Transitioning from Mineral to Gusto's built-in HR Resources.