What to include in a contract of employment.

As a business owner there is a lot to think about, primarily growing the business and ensuring you have an income. Maybe you started out as a solopreneur and then your business took off and you need to recruit or maybe you needed employees right from the get go.

Recruitment can be a challenge, costly, time consuming and finding the right candidate but that is for a different blog. Lets assume you have found the right person for your team, what then?

Well, all employees in the UK must have a contract of employment and there are a number of things you must include in that contract as follows:

• The employers name.
• The employees name, job title and a description of the work (you may have a
  separate job description), start date, pay and frequency of pay.
• Hours and days of work, you should state any patterns of work if they vary and if
  Sunday working is expected.
• Holiday entitlement and if this includes bank / public holidays.
• Location of the work and any additional locations
• The probation period
• Whether you are expected to work at different locations
• Duration of the contract
• Any other contractual benefits
• Obligatory training

You should also include whether there is continuous service, if for example they have been employed in another role at your company.

Other points to consider would be notice period, there are statutory notice periods which will apply whether you include them or not.

Any restrictive covenants you may wish to include depending on the job role, these are to protect your business if an employee leaves and goes to a competitor.

The right to make any deductions from salary, if for example an employee leaves owing money for training, equipment or overpayments.

If you would want to place employees on ‘garden leave’ or pay in lieu of notice (PILON), you will also need to include that in the contract.

In addition you will hopefully have either a handbook or policy which will outline, sick pay, holiday, flexible working, disciplinary etc.

There are some things that you would not want to include in a contract including bonus, sick pay entitlement if you pay occupational sick pay, as anything you include in a contract cannot be taken away or altered without consultation.

Not sure how to structure a contract and what to and what not to include contact me at [email protected].