An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and employee setting out the terms and conditions of their agreement. Although it is technically possible for a legally binding employer-employee relationship to exist based on a verbal arrangement, explicitly writing out terms of employment provides a clear framework to govern your interactions with employees. An employment contract takes the guesswork out of determining each party’s rights and responsibilities. As a business coach, preparing an employment contract is critical for your employment relationship. This article will take you through exactly what you need to include in your employment contracts.
The National Employment Standards
As an employer, you cannot offer employment terms to employees that do not meet the minimum safety net of entitlements established by the National Employment Standards (NES). The NES set out 11 minimum workplace entitlements which touch upon:
- working arrangements;
- leave entitlements;
- termination;
- redundancy; and
- access to information.
Business Employment Contract Content
As a business coach, you are tasked with making businesses focus on their game. You may provide your clients with sales, marketing, management team-building or even mentoring services.
Ultimately, the type of services you provide will dictate the content of your employment contracts. Nevertheless, certain aspects of employment permeate every working relationship and should be addressed similarly.
First and foremost, an employment contract should set out the terms of engagement under which you hire an employee. It should detail all the relevant parties’ rights and responsibilities under the contract in line with the NES. Your employment contract should also provide a fair mechanism under which you can resolve disputes.
Your coaching mantra and philosophy will undoubtedly give rise to a myriad of innovative plans, materials, documents, and tools and may even put you in touch with key industry players. As such, terms touching upon the non-disclosure of confidential information, the solicitation of clients and employees and intellectual property rights must form part of the document. Such safeguards will restrict the use of your business tools and client contacts. Accordingly, you continue to grow your business without the threat of an employee usurping your processes and contacts for their benefit. This is also known as a restraint clause. Including such a clause in your employment contracts will provide you with a way to enforce these restrictions on your employees, even beyond the term of their employment.
As an employer, understand your essential employment obligations with this free LegalVision factsheet.
Post-Employment Concerns
As the business environment continues to evolve and give rise to countless new and exciting opportunities, workers will undoubtedly continue to explore their employment options. Accordingly, it is vital that an employment contract not only detail and regulate the life of the working relationship between you and your employees but also identifies responsibilities that continue to exist post-employment.
Even when a working relationship ends on amicable terms, there may be confusion about what an employee can or cannot do with the knowledge they have gained. Anti-competition clauses and confidentiality clauses are of particular value for business coaches. Although employees automatically have common law obligations around confidentiality, which do not need to be explicitly provided in an agreement, it is much easier to enforce a breach of confidentiality clause than to rely on these common law obligations.
Similarly, having suitable termination procedures in place to avoid confidentiality breaches can be helpful. This might include having an employee hand over all business property on their last day, disconnecting the employee’s online access, and reminding your employees of their ongoing confidentiality obligations under their employment contract.
Key Takeaways
An employment contract is an agreement between an employer and employee setting out the terms and conditions of their agreement. As a business coach, preparing an employment contract is critical for providing a framework for your relationship with your employees. Some key things to include in your employment contract as a business coach include:
- terms of engagement;
- a mechanism for dispute resolution; and
- a confidentiality clause.
If you need assistance preparing employment contracts, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents. Call us today on 1300 544 755 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a business coach, the type of services you provide will dictate the content of your employment contracts. However, certain things should be addressed in all employment contracts, irrespective of your services. This includes outlining all terms of engagement, a mechanism for dispute resolution between employer and employee and confidentiality and restraint clauses.
The National Employment Standards (NES) set out the minimum entitlements owed to all employees. As an employer, it is impermissible for you to offer terms of employment to prospective or existing workers which fall short of the minimum safety net of entitlements established by the NES. Various state and national bodies implement the NES.
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