The Essential HR Handbook, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Quick and Handy Resource for Any Manager or HR Professional

Sharon and Barbara’s book, “The Essential HR Handbook,” is a gift to HR professionals. It’s an interesting, fluid read and provides the details and resources to run an HR Department--handling the hundreds of balls in the air daily which HR professionals face. As an HR consultant, it’s a constant resource in dealing with my clients—from developing an HR Strategy to tools to attract the best talent and retain it, including an attractive and competitive benefits and compensation package through current trends in the workplace including social media. They have captured the basics and provided a path to resolve HR issues. ---Ann P. Novak, PHR, SHRM-CP APNovak Associates, LLC, HR Consultants

Good book

Anyone pursuing a career in HR should read this book for it has helpful tips and what to expect working in this type of environment. Everyone can use a little guidance once in a while.

This book gave me pretty much what I wanted, which are some best practices for conducting performance reviews. The author illustrates why performance reviews are important to employees, which is often a task that most managers dread. I appreciated the fact the book covers the key elements in performing reviews, as well as varying scenarios that can occur during reviews, in which examples are provided. Also covered are the different types of reviews, scoring matrices, compensation, and compliance rules. While the book is geared toward anyone in a leadership role, I believe those who are in an HR position would benefit more from this book, as many of the book's examples are out of my control (i.e. as a manager, I simply employ the type of review established at my company). The only downside to this book is that over 1/3 of it (70 pages!)contain example review forms. Once again, I must abide by the review form engineered by my company's HR leaders, thus I gained little from those pages.

This book is a great resource for someone beginning in the HR field as I am. I wanted a book that had information as well as sample forms and checklists and this little book was it. If you're just beginning in HR I highly recommend this book.

From an HR perspective, I have found this book to be a great addition to my reference materials. It is equally useful for anyone who is a manager needing up-to-date information on both best HR practices and current laws. It is easy to read and organized so you can quickly get to the information you need. I highly recommend it. Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell have done an excellent job.

I bought this used and it was a great price and great condition. This book is so helpful as an HR professional as well, or even just management.

I may have misinterpreted the description, thinking that this book would help teach something useful for me as a new (potential) small business owner. This book is definitely geared more towards larger companies that have a dedicated HR person or department, or a dedicated manager. Not terribly useful for a place with a half dozen people.

Good book if you are new to the subject. I personally didnt get a lot out of it. There is also a lot of information that is good if you live in the USA. If you live anywhere else you will not be able to use it because its not applicable.

Although it’s written from an American perspective the ideas still translate for Irish readers. Some examples might not fit but it terms if giving a general sense of where to start in different situations it’s worth it.

Very very interesting yes I would recommend it

Well written, some parts are interesting, and obviously popular in 10th edition in 2019, but this is a US book written by US expert about American employment and HR. My fault as I didn't read the detail properly before buying. Luckily I also purchased an HR FUNDEMENTALS book with a purple cover which is UK based and so much more useful in the United Kingdom.

It was a good read but did not say much or anything at all about HR establishment.