An employment agreement is a legal document which defines the relationship between employer and employee when the latter first joins the company. This is usually a very detailed document, which seeks to ensure that the roles and obligations of both the employer and the employee are clearly defined. Most companies create one type of employment agreement, and then use this as a template for all employees within a specific cadre.
Some of the employee roles included in an employment agreement include their job description. This defines the tasks that they are supposed to do, the oversight that they will be subjected to, their salary and allowances as well as actions that they are not allowed to perform with the penalties they will incur if they do so.
Before signing the document, an employee needs to thoroughly go through the document so as to ensure that they don’t end up in a job where the terms and conditions are not in their favor. It is usually possible in most cases to negotiate with the employer about some of the clauses in the employment agreement before signing.
The employer’s obligations are usually also stipulated in the employment agreement. A few of these include the timing of their salaries (if the employees will be paid monthly) and the work conditions that the employer will offer. Drafting such a document is important since it not only has to be clear about the obligations of both the employer and employee, but should also conform to the country’s and state’s labor laws.