Employment Contract Agreement Template

Sourcing and hiring talent is fundamental to business growth, and you must get the process right. That’s why we’ve worked with legal experts and proofreaders to develop a simple employment agreement to use as you scale your workforce.

Free Simple Employment Contract Sample

What’s in this template?

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What is a simple employment contract, and why is it important?

Employment is the process whereby a business hires an individual to perform specific tasks and responsibilities in exchange for an income.

The business in this context is the employer, and the individual is the employee.

An employment contract is a legally binding agreement between employer and employee that lays out the terms and conditions for all parties to have a successful working relationship.

Employment contracts include information such as expected working hours, benefits, pay, conduct, and responsibilities.

Without a standard employment agreement in place, employers are not protected if employees don’t meet their role requirements. Conversely, employees are exposed if employers don’t fulfill their responsibilities.

What could have easily been mitigated with a contract can spiral into lawsuits and damaged reputations.

DISCLAIMER: We are not lawyers or a law firm and we do not provide legal, business or tax advice. We recommend you consult a lawyer or other appropriate professional before using any templates or agreements from this website.

Grab a copy of our Simple Employment Contract sample

If you’re in search of a straightforward hiring process, check out our basic employment contract template. It has all of the necessary information you need to onboard new talent and grows your business.

Click below to download our template today

The benefit of having a basic employment contract

The problem with most traditional employment contracts is that they’re long and filled with confusing legal jargon. Employees spend more time querying the information in the agreement, and employers waste time explaining and clarifying details in the fine print.

Keeping your employment agreement simple with just the essential conditions makes the hiring process more approachable and easier to manage.

The elements of an effective, simple employment agreement

Generally speaking, there are five key components of a basic employment contract. Let’s explore some examples below.

1. Role Duties and responsibilities of employee

It’s considered best practice to list the core responsibilities expected from your employee during their employment.

For example, if you’re hiring a sales consultant, they’d be responsible for:

The useful thing about listing core duties for a role in a contract is that it forces your team to get clear about what you expect from each position. You also have the added benefit of copying and pasting duties across multiple applications if it’s the same role.

We recommend you regularly update this section as you assess the effectiveness of each position in your organization.

2. Pay and compensation

Salary details are crucial for all of your future employees, so it’s vital that you communicate pay accurately.

At this point in the application process, employees should be well aware of their compensation. Either from the job advertisement or through negotiations through the hiring contact. You just want to make sure that the employment contract you present reflects the conversations you’ve had with employees about their pay.

If there’s any doubt or confusion about what salary to add to the contract, reach out to your HR team or the employee directly, confirm the agreed figure.

3. Employee benefits

Employee benefits usually include things like insurance, pensions, and time off/leave arrangements.

What benefits you offer to your employees is unique to your organization.

In most conventional employment contracts, the employee benefits section can be quite lengthy as the company’s try to explain all of the rules and processes for receiving benefits.

A simple employment agreement is more about capturing the high-level benefits and then relying on internal documents from the company to outline specific processes about each benefit. This approach is helpful as it keeps your contract nice and concise while providing more detailed information about each benefit, so it’s easier for employees to understand.

Some organizations even create short internal videos on their intranets to explain staff perks and benefits.

4. Working hours and location

In your employment contract, you must clearly describe the expected working hours per week for the role. Even better if you can communicate lunch breaks.

In addition to working hours, detail where your employee will be expected to work—which would be the principal place of employment.

In this day and age, you may need team members to work on different locations or remotely. So it’s a good idea to build some flexibility into your employment contract template where employees can work in a separate area as long as all parties agree.

5. Termination

One of the most referenced sections in a standard employment contract is the termination section. Employees move on and accept other positions, and they want to know what they need to do to end their employment.

It’s essential to include a notice period for when an employee can end their employment. This will be dependent on your local fair-work legislation and your business policy.

Grab a copy of our Simple Employment Contract sample

Click below to download our template today

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ about our Basic Employment Contract

When should contracts of employment be issued?

After an employer has communicated that you have been accepted to a role, you should expect an employment contract within days. However, this will vary from employer to employer.
Every state and country has different laws when it comes to employment. Some states require a written statement issued within two months of accepting a role, while it’s not necessary for others.
It’s best practice to hold off on commencing a role until you’ve read and signed your employment agreement. This ensures you have some protection if any issues arise.

Can I edit your employment agreement template?

Employment contracts can vary from role to role, department to department, and business to business. That’s why we’ve made our template available in Word so you can modify the details to your requirements.

document preview

Employment Contract Agreement

Parties

– This Employment Contract Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) is entered into on ______________ (the “Effective Date”), by and between __________________________, with an address of ______________ (hereinafter referred to as the “Employer”) and ______________ with an address of ______________ (hereinafter referred to as the “Employee”) (collectively referred to as the “Parties”).

Duties and Responsibilities

– During the employment period, the Employee shall have the responsibility to perform the following duties:

________________________________
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– The Parties agree that any responsibilities provided in this Agreement may not be assigned to any other party unless both parties agree to the assignment in writing.

Pay and Compensation

– The Parties hereby agree that the Employer will pay the Employee an annual salary of ______________ payable semi-monthly and subject to regular deductions and withholdings as required by law.

– Whereas the Parties also agree that annual salary may be increased annually by an amount as may be approved by the Employer and, upon such increase, the increased amount shall thereafter be deemed to be the annual salary for purposes of this Agreement.

Benefits

– The Parties hereby agree that the Employee shall receive the benefits (Insurance, Holiday and Vacation) provided by the Employer as indicated below.

________________________________
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Working Hours and Location

– The Employee agrees that he/she will be working from ______________ to ______________ (Monday to Friday), with a ______________ lunch break.

– In particular, the Employee agrees that he/she will work on average ______________ hours per week.

– The Employee’s place of work shall be located in _________________ or such other location as the Parties may agree upon from time to time.

Term Of Agreement

– This Agreement shall be effective on the date of signing this Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Effective Date”) and will end on ______________.

– Upon the end of the term of the Agreement, this Agreement will not be automatically renewed for a new term.

Termination

– This Agreement may be terminated in case the following occurs:

Immediately in case one of the Parties breaches this Agreement.
At any given time by providing a written notice to the other party ______________ days prior to terminating the Agreement.

– Upon terminating this Agreement, the Employee will be required to return all Employer’s materials, products or any other content at his/her earliest convenience, but not beyond ______________ days.

Confidentiality

– All terms and conditions of this Agreement and any materials provided during the term of the Agreement must be kept confidential by the Employee, unless the disclosure is required pursuant to process of law.

– Disclosing or using this information for any purpose beyond the scope of this Agreement, or beyond the exceptions set forth above, is expressly forbidden without the prior consent of the Employer.

Intellectual Property

– Hereby, the Employee agrees that any intellectual property provided to him/her by the Employer will remain the sole property of the Employer including, but not limited to, copyrights, patents, trade secret rights, and other intellectual property rights associated with any ideas, concepts, techniques, inventions, processes, works of authorship, Confidential Information or trade secrets.

Exclusivity

– The Parties agree that this Agreement is not an exclusive arrangement and that the Employer is entitled to enter into other similar agreements with other employees.

– However, the Employee is not entitled to enter into a similar agreement as long as he/she remains a party to this Agreement.

Limitation Of Liability

– In no event shall the Employer nor the Employee be individually liable for any damages for breach of duty by third parties, unless the Employer’s or Employee’s act or failure to act involves intentional misconduct, fraud, or a knowing violation of the law.

Severability

– In an event where any provision of this Agreement is found to be void and unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining provisions will remain to be enforced in accordance with the Parties’ intention.

Governing Law

– This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of ______________.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

– Any dispute or difference whatsoever arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be submitted to ______________ (Arbitration/mediation/negotiation) in accordance with, and subject to the laws of ______________.

Attorney Fees

– In the event of any dispute between the parties concerning the terms and provisions of this Agreement, the party prevailing in such dispute shall be entitled to collect from the other party all costs incurred in such dispute, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.

Entire Agreement

– This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding among the Parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, inducements and conditions, express or implied, oral or written, of any nature whatsoever with respect to the subject matter hereof. The express terms hereof control and supersede any course of performance and/or usage of the trade inconsistent with any of the terms hereof.

Amendments

– The Parties agree that any amendments made to this Agreement must be in writing where they must be signed by both Parties to this Agreement.

– As such, any amendments made by the Parties will be applied to this Agreement.

Signature And Date

– The Parties hereby agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and such is demonstrated throughout by their signatures below:

Employee

Name: ______________________

Signature: ___________________

Date: _______________________

Employer

Name: ______________________

Signature: ___________________

Date: _______________________

Related Proposals and Templates

Grab a copy of our Simple Employment Contract sample

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