Very few legislative categories change as frequently as employment law. Business owners and leaders should recognise that updating their key legal employment documentation, employment contracts and staff handbooks is virtually an annual requirement.
That might sound onerous but it needn’t be.
You might be thinking you don’t need a regularly updated employment contract
- You’re using a template you’ve had for some time and there have been no problems to date.
- As long as you give the employee some form of contract within their first year or so, you’ll accept the risk.
- You have a small team who you’ve known for a long time.
- If a problem arises with an employee, you’ll deal with it at that point.
But what if…?
- Employment contract templates can quickly go out of date – legislation and regulations are updated on an annual basis.
- Legislation requires employers to provide new employees with an employment contract on the first day or their employment.
- It only takes one issue with an employee to significantly impact your business – not just in terms of potential compensation but also legal costs and lost management time.
- Employees can now more easily take a claim to an employment tribunal with minimal financial risk.
Our Approach to Employment Contracts
Understanding
There are two aspects here. Firstly – we will take time to explain to you the most important provisions that should be contained within an employment contract – what they mean and whether they are suitable for your business and employees. We’ll then explain how the employment contract will interact with your staff handbook.
Agreeing
We’ll agree with you the key provisions you want to have in place – for example, grievance and disciplinary procedures, holidays, absence, maternity and paternity leave. From this conversation, we will recommend the most appropriate structure of the employment contract.
Drafting
Once we’ve discussed and agreed on the appropriate provisions, the drafting process can begin. This may involve a more detailed conversation with one of our Associates. Following this, we’ll produce a first draft for your consideration.
Finalising
Once the first draft has been produced, we’ll take you through the document and make any amendments that are needed. There might be one or two cycles of this refining process. Once we concluded, we’ll produce a final draft and you’re good to go ahead and implement the employment contract with your employees.
Let’s get started.
Do we sound like the sort of people you’d like to have on your side?