By law, an employee is entitled to a written statement of the main terms of their contract within two months of employment, which must include:
- Pay
- Work hours
- right to vacation
- sick pay arrangements
- Warning
- Information on disciplinary and grievance procedures
Because the contract is a legal document, it must contain the correct information, written correctly and sensibly in a way that protects both the employer and the employee.
But how to write employment contracts without legal knowledge?
Contact an attorney
If you are not legally trained or have little experience drafting employment contracts, it would be wise to seek legal advice.
A law firm will be able to draft a contract for use across the business, but unfortunately at a cost, usually at an hourly rate of between £160 and £250. For small businesses, this can be a cost that is simply not an option. viable option.
contract templates
A template is a standard document that allows you to fill in all the appropriate details of your company, employee and terms of conditions. While relatively inexpensive, they can include a lot of generic employment law information and data that may or may not apply to your business, which will need to be interpreted before it can be used as a legal document.
Once this has happened, you may need to modify, add or remove clauses to make the document relevant to your business or situation. So now you have a dilemma: you think you have a legally binding contract and that you’re compliant, but because you’ve made changes to the original (generic) data, you can’t be absolutely sure that if something happens unexpected, you, your employees or your business is protected under the law.
This brings us back to legal advice, that in addition to the costs above, a lawyer would need to read the contract and prepare some notes, which usually takes from half an hour to three quarters of an hour. Which means additional fees of at least £80 to £125, and at this stage, you still don’t have a legally compliant employment contract.
Suddenly your £45 template starts to look expensive and time consuming.
Templates generally look straightforward and you can feel like you’re getting value for money by buying one and reusing it. However, using a template to create compliant employment contracts in England and Wales assumes that you have had legal training or experience, have a healthy human resources budget, and have free time on your hands.
Understanding the true cost of the workforce’s journey to compatible employment contract is difficult to achieve. The changes you made to the original document may only require minimal redaction and your legal bill may be less than £250 per contract. Alternatively, you could be very unlucky and end up with rates that are double or even triple that amount, per contract.
pay per use
Another service has recently opened up for many UK small and medium sized businesses that falls somewhere between the two options above.
Employees can now purchase employment contract templates that have been signed and endorsed by professional law firms that allow you to create a custom contract based on the needs of your company and for a specific employee. Based on your answers to a set of simple questions, the system understands which clauses are required in the document and inserts the necessary text to complete the contract.
Although these employment contracts cost more than a standard template (£100-£200), because they have been signed by a legal team, you can rest assured that your contracts comply with current UK law that protects your business. . and its greatest assets, its employees.
When choosing an employment contract document provider, look for:
- Are you tied to a contract? There are some companies that will tie you into a binding and expensive software agreement. Always review the terms and conditions thoroughly before hiring the service.
- Will you get updates? Employment law is a constantly changing thing, and employment contracts can quickly become outdated. Make sure that whichever option you choose, you get updates about the change and what they mean (obviously, this is better if it’s free). Do they also provide you with free legal advice for those factors you don’t understand?
- How legal are legal documents? For documents to be real, they must be endorsed and signed by a real legal team or firm. Don’t take comfort in just being told they are, find out who’s backing them and investigate them thoroughly.
Where to go?
Which option a company chooses will always depend on the company itself. Whichever way you decide, always make sure your employment contracts remain legal, so you protect your business and your most important assets, your employees.