As of 13 August 2026, AI can create a plain-English summary of your employee handbook.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the current approved employee handbook and remove personal data, confidential case details and anything that is not part of the policy text.
   2. Gather the intended audience, the HR contact or team, the preferred length and any required handbook section or page references.
   3. Paste the handbook and those details into an approved AI chat, using the prompt above.
   4. Ask the AI to process the handbook in sections if it exceeds the chat's input limit, then ask it to combine the section summaries without removing cross-references or exceptions.
   5. Compare every summary heading, rule, deadline, eligibility condition and reporting route against the current handbook, recording the source section or page in the checking table.
   6. Ask an HR colleague to check every item marked '[CHECK WITH HR]' and every point affecting pay, leave, discipline, complaints, data protection or employee rights.
   7. Add the HR contact, handbook version and a clear statement that the handbook remains the controlling document, then send the approved summary to the intended employees.

   Prompt

   Create a plain-English summary of the employee handbook pasted below for [target audience, such as new employees or all employees]. Use only information in the handbook and do not invent, omit or change rules, deadlines, eligibility conditions, exceptions or reporting routes. Do not give legal interpretations and do not present the summary as replacing the handbook. Organise it under clear headings, using short paragraphs and bullet points. Explain what employees need to know and do, including conduct, working arrangements, leave, absence reporting, pay-related processes, performance, complaints, disciplinary procedures, health and safety, data protection and leaving the organisation, but include a heading only where the handbook contains relevant information. Preserve important distinctions between mandatory rules, guidance and discretionary decisions. Mark any unclear, contradictory, outdated or missing wording as '[CHECK WITH HR]' rather than resolving it. Include a short opening note saying that the handbook remains the controlling document and employees should ask [HR contact or team] if they are unsure. After the summary, provide a table with these columns: handbook section, key point in the summary, source wording or page reference, and check needed. Then list every point that could materially change an employee's rights, obligations, pay, leave, disciplinary position or complaint route for a human HR reviewer to confirm. Handbook: [paste handbook text here]

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.