Your employee handbook tells people the rules. A company culture guide tells them what it’s really like to work at your company, including what you value, how decisions get made, and what they’re allowed to do without asking.
This is not my attempt at downplaying policy handbooks. Handbooks matter too! I wrote about why they’re so necessary, and how to make their answers easy to find with an AI HR assistant. But outside of HR and legal, very few people read them cover to cover. They also leave a gap that has become much more noticeable in scaling companies, especially hybrid and remote-first teams. So consider this my love letter to building a company culture guide.
At Levelset, a construction tech company in New Orleans, I helped build one. We called it the Levelset Field Guide. It was a printed book full of photos, quotes from teammates, inside jokes, and honest answers about what working there was really like. We gave it to every new hire, and it went through three printings (which, for an internal culture book, felt a lot like hitting the bestseller list). Page one explained how it worked with our handbook. Policies lived in our employee portal, and the Field Guide helped people think through the choices they’d make every day.
Here’s what I learned building ours: why a culture guide matters, the 13 sections I’d include if I were starting one today, and the questions each section should answer.
Want a head start? Grab the free culture guide template.
All 13 sections, with the questions to answer and sample language you can make your own.
In this guide
• What is a company culture guide?
• Why your company needs a culture guide
• Your handbook and your culture guide do different jobs
• What to include: 13 sections
• How to make it something people read
• Culture guide FAQ
• Free culture guide template
What is a company culture guide?
A company culture guide is a short, readable document that explains what it’s like to work at your company. It covers what you value, how your team works, and what employees can expect, in your team’s own voice. You might also hear it called a culture book, culture handbook, or culture code. It sits next to your employee handbook, which holds the official policies.
Why your company needs a culture guide
Every company has a culture, whether anyone writes it down or not. When it lives only in people’s heads, new hires pick it up slowly, unevenly, and sometimes not at all. Writing it down helps in some very practical ways.
• New hires get up to speed faster. They learn how things really work in their first week, instead of piecing it together over months.
• Your team asks fewer repeat questions. The answers people need most are written down in one place, in plain language.
• Your culture stays consistent as you grow. When you add teams, managers, or locations, everyone works from the same picture of who you are.
• Candidates can tell if they’d be a good fit. Sharing your guide during hiring helps the right people say yes, and helps others opt out early.
• It builds trust. Writing down the things most companies leave unsaid, like how promotions work or what’s hard here, shows employees you have nothing to hide.
Your handbook and your culture guide do different jobs
| Your employee handbook | Your culture guide |
| Covers the rules and the legal details | Covers how things really work and why |
| Written for accuracy, reviewed by legal | Written in your team’s voice, with input from employees |
| Answers “what’s the policy?” | Answers “what’s it like here, and am I allowed to?” |
| Opened when someone needs to look something up | Read in the first week, and shared with candidates |
You need both, and they work best together. The culture guide points to the handbook for the full policy, and the handbook stays exactly as precise as legal needs it to be.
What to include in your company culture guide
You don’t need all 13 on day one. Start with the sections your team asks about most, and add the rest over time. Each section below has a matching section in the free template, so you can follow along as you read.
1. Why we’re here
Open with your mission in a leader’s own words. A short letter from your CEO or founder about why the company exists sets the tone for everything that follows.
Questions to answer: Why does this company exist? Who do we help? What would the world look like if we succeed?
2. How to use this guide
Tell people what lives here and what lives in the handbook, and where to go when they need the official policy.
Questions to answer: What is this guide for? Where do I find the full policies? Who do I ask if something here is unclear?
SAMPLE LANGUAGE
How to use this guide
This guide is about how we work and what we care about. It’s here to help you make good choices, especially in your first few months. For official policies, benefits details, and forms, visit [where your handbook lives]. If anything here is unclear, ask [team or person]. Questions are always welcome.
3. What we value
List your values, then show what each one looks like on a normal Tuesday. A quote from an employee under each value makes it real.
Questions to answer: What do we value? What does each value look like in practice? How do we act when two values pull in different directions?
“People don’t remember what you try to teach them. They remember what you are.”
Jim Henson
4. How we work
Share the rhythm of the company: team meetings, all-hands, planning cycles, and how information gets shared.
Questions to answer: What meetings will I be part of? How are decisions made, and can I be part of them? How do we share how the company is doing?
5. Here, it’s okay to…
This was my favorite page in our Field Guide. It’s a simple list of permissions, and each one answers a question people rarely say out loud: “Am I allowed to?”
Here, it’s okay to…
• Ask questions, and not know the answer
• Take a sick day without apologizing
• Take vacation and stay off Slack
• Have an off day
• Sit in on another team’s meeting
• Book time with a leader you haven’t met yet
• Give feedback, and ask for it
6. Things we say
Every company has sayings, traditions, and inside jokes. Explaining them helps new people feel included from the start, instead of nodding along until someone fills them in.
Questions to answer: What phrases will I hear around here, and what do they mean? What traditions should I know about?
7. Questions you may have
I think this section is where trust really gets built. Our Field Guide answered questions like “Can I really just go talk to the CEO?” and “Is something going on that I don’t know about?” Most companies never write those answers down.
Questions to answer: Can I get time with leadership? Who makes the big decisions? How is the company doing? How will I hear about big changes?
8. How we celebrate
Show how wins, milestones, and great work get recognized, and how anyone can recognize a teammate.
Questions to answer: How do we recognize each other? How do we celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, and team wins?
9. Growing here
Explain reviews, pay, and promotions, even if the process is informal. Our Field Guide spelled out the three conditions for a promotion. That kind of clarity helps people plan and keeps the process fair.
Questions to answer: How do performance reviews work, and what does “doing well” look like? How are raises decided? How do promotions happen?
10. Time off, leave, and benefits
Give a short, plain-language answer to each question, and link to the full policy in your handbook. The free template includes the full list of questions for this section.
Questions to answer:
• How do I plan time off for holidays I observe that the company doesn’t close for?
• If PTO is unlimited, how much time off are we expected to take?
• How do sick, parental, and bereavement leave work, and what do I need to qualify? (In the US, include when FMLA applies. Outside the US, share what you offer beyond the legal minimum.)
• Where do I find my paystubs, offer letter, and year-end tax forms (like a W-2 in the US or a P60 in the UK)?
SAMPLE LANGUAGE
Unlimited PTO
We ask everyone to take at least [number] days off each year, including one stretch of [number] days in a row. Leaders are expected to model this behavior, so that teams are encouraged to truly unplug during PTO.
11. Speaking up and getting help
Make it easy to find the right person, for small problems and serious ones.
Questions to answer: Who do I ask for help with HR, IT, Finance, or Office Ops? If something feels uncomfortable or unsafe, like walking to my car after work, who do I tell? How do I report a serious concern, and what protects me after I speak up?
12. In our team’s words
Ask a handful of employees across roles and locations what the culture means to them, and print their answers. Their stories will say more about your culture than any values statement can.
Questions to answer: What’s a moment that shows what working here is like? What would you tell a friend who’s thinking about joining?
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou
13. The honest part
Our Field Guide ended with a “warning label” about the hard parts of working there. Being upfront about what’s hard, and who tends to thrive, does more for trust than the shiniest careers page ever could.
Questions to answer: What’s hard about working here? Who thrives here? What should someone know before they join?
How to make it something people read
• Write to one person. Use “you” and “we,” and write the way you’d explain things to a new hire over coffee.
• Let your team help write it. Employee quotes, sayings, and stories make it feel like your own company.
• Make it look good. Photos, pull quotes, and a little humor go a long way.
• Answer per location. If your team spans more than one country, note where policies differ.
• Revisit it once a year. Culture changes as you grow, and the guide should keep up.
Then put your answers where people already work. With CultureBot’s AI HR assistant, you can upload your culture guide and handbook, and employees can ask questions in Slack and get your answers in seconds.
And if you build one, I would love to see it!
Culture guide FAQ
What’s the difference between a culture guide and an employee handbook?
Your employee handbook holds the official policies and legal details. A culture guide explains how things really work and why, in your team’s voice. The culture guide points to the handbook whenever someone needs the full policy.
How long should a company culture guide be?
Long enough to cover what your team asks about most, and short enough to read in one sitting. Many teams start with a handful of sections and add more as questions come up.
Who should write the culture guide?
The People team usually leads, with a letter from your CEO or founder and input from employees. Quotes, sayings, and stories from your team are what make it feel real.
How often should you update it?
Review it once a year, and any time a policy or big part of how you work changes. Your culture grows with your company, and the guide should keep up.
Should you share your culture guide with candidates?
Yes, especially later in the hiring process. Sections like “The honest part” help candidates decide if your company is the right fit, which is good for everyone.
Get the free culture guide template
All 13 sections, with the questions to answer and sample language you can adapt for your team. Fill out the form below to get your copy.
