Contracts and Policies

One of the most important documents in an employment relationship is the contract of employment. Each document must be tailored to the business that you run and it must clearly set out the terms of the relationship. Contracts must not only deal with what happens when they are employees, what pay and benefits they get and when this will be reviewed but must look ahead to when the relationship ends.

They must deal with matters such as restricting ex-employees from taking a business’s clients and/or confidential information and, in some cases, competing with the business at all for a fixed period of time. Advice is needed on what is appropriate and likely to stand the scrutiny of the Courts and tribunals. This will depend on the business and where the employee fits into it.

To support these contracts there will be handbooks and policies, setting out the standards expected of employees whilst they are at work. They must be up to date and reflect modern society, such as a social media policy.

Sometimes there may be a question over whether a person in the organisation is in fact an employee or a contractor or a worker. Each has different rights and it is important to ascertain that at the outset.