After all the lies and looting of the company at the expense of employees and stockholders from the previous management, I find his candidness and common sense approach refreshing.

One thing I learned the hard way is that employee handbooks are essentially worthless. They are written to lull non-union, at-will employees into thinking that if they follow the rules they won't get fired. This is of course false because at-will employees can be fired with or without cause at any time, for any (legal) reason. Also, nothing a handbook says about vacation time, benefits, pension, etc. is legally binding, because it isn't a contract! Employee handbooks are not worth the paper they're written on.

I have to agree, after looking through the pdf of his Employee Manual. It is short and to the point. Don't agree about not needing paramedic standby for a medical convention. Doctors at a convention do not have their medicine and equipment for an emergency and not all Medical Doctors are emergency medical providers. (That is an example cited in the handbook.) Other than that observation, It is worthy of further study.

"7.1. If you use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated. See Rule 1. Coming to work drunk is bad judgment."

* "7.2. If you do not use or abuse alcohol or drugs and fail to perform the duties required by your job acceptably, you are likely to be terminated­."
You THINK!!!

Would love to see the rest of his Employe Handbook. It should be published. A real NYT Best Seller.

This is delightful! I don't know what kind of newspaperman Zell will be, but he's a human resource genius!