How can I make an "instruction manual" for work?

Question

Our office has been getting quite a few new employees recently, and there are more on the way. It is very important that people be consistent with procedures. Someone suggested that we make a book/instruction manual to orient new people. It would need to explain procedures as well as give detailed information of the forms we use and when we use them. What I need are suggestions for how to do this effectively and concisely. I'm not really sure where to begin. There is a lot of information to work with and I really don't want to write a novel.

Answer 1

Start with an outline of what you want to include in the manual. Include sample forms, highlight the sections that they need to fill in and do a sheet of codes that your company uses. (Such as location codes, company product abreviations) Then go subject by subject and put the manual together. Give the draft to a new employee as a test run, then make changes accordingly before you mass produce them. I've done a bunch of them in my career and they help out a lot.

Answer 2

Ask the other people at work to submit their part - what they do, the forms they use, etc.
That way you would not be doing as much work.
You are a considerate co=worker. I wish something like that had been available at my jobs.

Answer 3

Do you mean, Job description? Just write down what the postion requires, what they do, etc.... Then write down specific instructions for a specific task. Put it together!