Top four documents business owners should put on their new year’s resolutions list

At the beginning of a new year, people are fresh with energy about improving their lives. People make resolutions do things like exercise more, eat better, be kinder and learn more. Business owners should take this new found energy and apply it to their businesses as well.

One of the projects that often gets left to the wayside in the hustle and bustle of the year is updating important company documents. It is one those tasks that business owners push to the side because often it isn’t as exciting as landing a new client, developing a new product or expanding their business (which are all admittedly awesome!). However, bad documents can lead to big (and even badder) problems. Below is a list of documents that it would be helpful to refresh at the beginning of the year:

Business formation documents: Many business owners haven’t dusted off their operating agreement or by laws since they originally formed their business. The problem is these documents often control important decisions — like who can make particular decisions in a business and how finances are distributed or contributed between owners. In many cases, what may have worked at the inception of a business is now no longer applicable. And more importantly do your documents preempt problems and describe how to resolve them?

Employee handbook: The employee handbook is a guiding point for employees as to the rules of the road in the workplace. Badly drafted or incorrect handbooks can lead to employee confusion or, even worse, legal problems. The new year is the perfect time to give your employee handbook a fresh look and to update out-of-date employee policies.

Non-disclosure/confidentiality agreements: Business owners need to make sure they are accurately (and legally) protecting proprietary information, like trade secrets, from disclosure to third parties.

Privacy policies and procedures: Business owners now more than ever need to understand their obligations and responsibilities as it relates to keeping private information secure. In a world filled with data breaches (both internal and external), business owners need to ask themselves if they have the correct privacy policies and procedures in place so they aren’t caught off guard.

If you have any questions about these or other legal topics, contact an attorney of your choice.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Top four documents business owners should put on their new year’s resolutions list."