Employee handbooks should also be reviewed and amended where necessary. The handbook should instruct employees to always protect the company's trade secrets and proprietary material. It should explain to employees just how valuable trade secrets are to the company. Proper use of trademarks should be described. Finally, the handbook must remind employees of their obligation to disclose and transfer to the company inventions and ideas relating to their employment, which obligations should also be set out in the employment agreement. Many employers and human resource professionals think employee handbooks are only labor law related, but clearly, they can be very helpful tools to protect the company's intellectual property.
