Contracts of employment, Staff Handbooks and HR Policies

Employment contracts - and any related handbooks and HR policies – are key to the employment relationship.

As well as being a legal requirement, a well-drafted written contract offers protection and certainty for both parties.  For employers, it is particularly important to ensure that the business is protected in a number of ways, including against an employee leaving without giving appropriate notice, taking confidential information or company property, or even joining a competitor and taking customer relationships with them.

Most employers choose to augment their contracts with a suite of HR policies, usually found in a staff handbook.  Whilst often non-contractual, policies and procedures can be valuable to both employee and employer, and frequently critical to reducing the risk of a workplace dispute.

Our team has more than 20 years of experience in drafting contracts and policies for all levels of staff, from the junior right up to CEOs, and across a wide range of industry sectors.  We provide commercial and practical advice to ensure that your employment contracts are right for the business and your workforce.

We regularly use our expertise to advise employees on job offers and contracts as well.

Our depth of experience means that we know how problems arise and how to put in place documentation which avoids or mitigates those issues in advance.  A good employment contract and its related documents should be seen as an investment for both employer and employee which limits substantially the prospect of a prolonged or costly dispute further down the line.