Employment Law and HR
Employment contracts and handbooks
Whether you’re starting from scratch or simply seeking a professional review, our Employment Law specialists are here to help. We can expertly review your existing employment contracts and employee handbooks or provide you with a brand new set of documents that are relevant to your organisation. Up-to-date, flexible and robust, these essential documents should work for you.
Get your employment contracts and handbooks professionally drafted by a legally qualified expert to safeguard your business and support your workforce.
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How we help
Carefully crafted, compliant employment documents
When it comes to employment contracts and HR policies, relying on poorly drafted, off-the-shelf templates rarely ends well, leaving your business unable to take action where necessary and potentially exposed to legal risk.
At WorkNest, we can help you to ensure these cornerstone documents are fully fit for purpose and offer maximum protection for your organisation in any eventuality.
- Relevant for your business, company needs and internal processes
- Manage different categories of workers with specific contracts of employment
- Ensure compliance with an employee handbook of best-practice HR policies
- Equip managers with process guides and letter templates from our Knowledge Hub, via myWorkNest
- For immediate practical help, use our 24/7 advice line
Related resources
Reviewed and robust, with extra help if you need it
If your contracts and policies haven’t been updated in a while, chances are they’re not properly protecting your business interests. They may even be missing important information that means you’re not complying with the law, leaving you exposed.
As part of our Employment Law services, our team of highly-qualified legal experts will not only equip your business with all the documentation you need but will keep your contracts and policies under regular review, ensuring they reflect any major legal changes.
Plus, with access to our Employment Law advice line, you can uncomplicate any tricky contractual issues – and indeed any other employment-related issue – and get clarity on your legal obligations at any time.
What should a contract of employment include?
Contracts of employment are essential legal documents that define the terms of agreement between an employer and an employee, setting clear expectations for both parties and establishing a foundation for a positive working relationship. For employers, comprehensive and complete employment contracts help avoid misunderstandings, disputes, and potential legal issues. To ensure your contracts cover all crucial elements, here’s a breakdown of key areas to include:
- Job title and description – This should cover responsibilities, working hours, location, and any specific job requirements, offering clarity for the employee and reducing potential misunderstandings.
- Salary and benefits package – Clearly outline the agreed salary or hourly rate, along with any additional benefits like bonuses, pension contributions, or health insurance.
- Probationary period – This time is valuable for assessing the employee’s performance and cultural fit while giving the employee a clear understanding of expectations.
- Termination and notice period – Outline termination procedures, including notice periods, so both parties are aware of their contractual obligations. This helps manage departures and reduces the risk of disputes.
- Confidentiality and non-compete clauses – To protect confidential information and intellectual property, consider adding a confidentiality clause to prevent the employee from disclosing sensitive information. A non-compete clause can further protect your business by restricting the employee from working with competitors post-employment, though it’s advisable to seek legal advice before including restrictive covenants.
Fixed-fee employment contract lawyers
At WorkNest, as part of our fixed-fee service, we ensure your employment contracts and handbooks are robust, compliant, and aligned with your business needs.
Our employment contract lawyers make it easier for you to stay on top of complex employment law requirements without worrying about unexpected legal fees. Our team specialise in creating documents that are relevant to your industry and business requirements, ensuring they not only meet legal obligations but also reflect the practical needs of your workplace. With our fixed-fee services, you can rest assured that the pricing is transparent and straightforward – no surprises or hidden costs.
Why you should consult a lawyer for employment contracts
While it may be tempting to use generic templates, an employment contract is one of the most important documents in your business. Without legal expertise, you could miss crucial details that protect your interests.
Here’s why you should always consult a lawyer for employment contracts:
- Legal compliance: Employment laws are continually changing, and it’s vital that your contracts reflect the latest legislation. A lawyer ensures that your documents comply with current employment laws, including the latest updates on employee rights, statutory sick pay, flexible working, and unfair dismissal protections.
- Risk mitigation: Inadequate contracts can lead to legal disputes and costly employment tribunal claims. By working with a legal expert, you can ensure that your contracts are structured to protect both your business and your employees, reducing the risk of litigation.
- Clarity and consistency: Clear and well-drafted employment contracts prevent misunderstandings. A lawyer ensures that your contracts cover all essential areas, from terms of employment and disciplinary procedures to non-compete clauses, leaving nothing open to interpretation.
- Employee handbooks: In addition to employment contracts, having a thorough employee handbook is essential for outlining workplace policies, expectations, and procedures. WorkNest can help ensure that your handbook is legally compliant and consistent with your contracts, providing your team with clear guidance on their roles and responsibilities.
Popular FAQs
Common contracts and handbooks queries and questions about our service, answered by our Employment Law and HR specialists.
What information should be included in an employment contract?
All written terms of employment have to provide a certain level of information to be compliant with legislation. Since the Good Work Plan came into force on 6 April 2020, the principal statement of employment terms must contain additional information. Download a full list of what needs to be included in an employment contract here.
What types of employment contract are there?
Permanent contracts, fixed-term contracts (either fixed by duration or a specified event), zero-hour contracts, contracts for workers and many more. Each will have its own specific requirements and it’s important to get them right to ensure your employee is on the correct type.
What policies should be included in an Employee Handbook?
There are no hard and fast rules but as a matter of best practice all handbooks should contain information on disciplinary and grievance procedures, absence management, holiday rules and entitlement, performance management, family friendly rights and policies, guidance on equal opportunities and data protection.
What are the risks of not having the right contracts in place?
Failing to provide an employee with a contract could lead to additional compensation being awarded to an employee who successfully makes another sort of claim against their employer. In addition, a number of practical problems could be caused by having incorrect contracts, such as paying too little (or too much) notice, getting holiday entitlement wrong and failing to protect legitimate business interests in the face of an employee leaving for a competitor.
I’m not sure whether my contracts are up to date or not. Can you help?
Absolutely. Employers often use the same contracts and policies for years, only realising they’re out of date when an issue arises. We can conduct a full MOT to assess any areas where they are outdated or fall short, then either replace or revamp them for maximum cover and effectiveness.
How often do HR policies need to be reviewed?
Whenever there are changes to UK employment legislation, such as the recent changes to bereavement leave or the Good Work Plan, it’s important to make sure your contracts, handbooks and policies are updated accordingly. We can take the pressure off by alerting you to any such changes and helping you to implement them in your documentation and practices.
Is there somewhere I can store these documents online?
Yes. Our online platform, myWorkNest, contains a secure area where you can house all your contracts, handbooks, policies and other important employment documents for easy access. That way, you can refer back to them at any time, ensure only correct versions are being used, and make them readily available to all new managers or HR personnel who might need them.
Where can I go for more advice on a particular employee issue?
If you’re not sure what you can and can’t do under your current contracts, thinking about changing an employee’s terms and conditions, or looking for guidance on carrying out a particular HR procedure, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR service gives you unlimited access to dedicated experts for personalised, pragmatic advice.
Explore our fixed-fee Employment Law support
We do more than just contracts and handbooks...
Advice line
Fast, pragmatic, commercial. Our Employment Law & HR advice line gives you and your managers access to truly unlimited advice on all of your people-related challenges, from the seemingly straightforward to the most complex.
What sorts of things can you advise on?
HR matters come with the territory when you run a business or manage an organisation and we’re here to help you through it all. Whether you’re battling absenteeism, struggling to manage an underperforming employee or need help navigating a complicated exercise like redundancy, we can walk you through the steps required to handle the situation appropriately.
Is everything dealt with through one team?
Yes. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means a full range of employee issues can be dealt with within your dedicated three-person team. In the event that you’re presented with an Employment Tribunal claim, we will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team so that they are well equipped to defend you.
Drafting letters and documents
From the most straightforward warning for poor attendance to complex grievance outcome letters and everything in between, our Employment Law solicitors can draft all your employment documents to save you valuable time and stress.
What sorts of documents can you draft?
Just about anything and everything you might need during the employment relationship. All of our advisers are qualified legal professionals or on the road to formal qualification, which means we can support you with a full spectrum of advice and documentation, from first written warnings to new contractual clauses, to a policy you might not have in your handbook, plus more complex legal documents like settlement agreements and redundancy outcome letters.
I’ve got a HR team and just want templates we can use. Do you have a resources bank?
Yes, our fixed-fee Employment Law and HR support includes full access to our Knowledge Hub, available through myWorkNest, which contains most of the templates we work from. If you have an internal HR team, you may prefer to access these and tailor them yourselves. However, for more complex cases, we would always suggest engaging with our legal advisers as it can be all too easy to word something in a way that leaves you exposed.
e-Learning
Tired of classroom training, or unable to take time out? Raise awareness of best-practice around workplace issues and prevent HR headaches with our flexible, cost-effective e-Learning courses.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of e-Learning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course catalogue.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our e-Learning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional component of our Employment Law and HR support, by underpinning our advice with Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI), you have maximum reassurance that your business is protected against unfair dismissal and other costly employee claims.
I’ve never had a claim before – why would I need to take LEI?
For the same reason you take out any insurance policy – to guard against the high cost of defending an Employment Tribunal claim. The premium cost is very low compared to the potential payout, especially as it covers the cost of representation as well as any potential compensation. You don’t have to have LEI, but it could significantly impact your bottom line if something goes wrong, given that the cost of even the most basic unfair dismissal claim could be £20-25,000 when legal costs are factored in. Unfortunately, the latest Tribunal statistics suggest that employers now are more vulnerable than ever.
Can you deal with Employment Tribunal claims, or is this triaged outside of WorkNest?
Should you receive a claim, your dedicated Employment Law adviser, who will have dealt with the matter up until that point, will conduct a full handover to our Litigation Team. They will explain the case history, share all the relevant documentation and offer their views on the prospects of the claim. Our Litigation Team will then take over all the prep work, including drafting a defence, producing bundles, dealing with Acas and the other side, and briefing counsel. Rest assured this is a smooth process, with everything kept inside WorkNest, and you will be in safe hands throughout.
Management information
Discipline, performance, absenteeism. We’ll show you exactly where your dedicated Employment Law advisers are spending their time so that you can target key problem areas for more productive, high-performing teams. Recommended for large organisations with high case volumes.
What detail does the MI provide?
The report will highlight what sorts of issues we are advising on and who/where in your business those questions are coming from. That way, we can easily spot problem areas, bring them to your attention and recommend steps to address the issues.
What sorts of recommendations do you typically provide?
We will provide practical and pragmatic recommendations to address whatever common problems are arising. The exact nature will depend on the sort of issues but could include training of managers in certain areas or the production of additional guidance and documentation to guide them through tricky subjects.
myWorkNest
From document templates to HR Software, myWorkNest gives you all the tools you need to manage even the trickiest employee issues, improve efficiencies and get the answers you need, fast.
What sorts of issues can I find guides and templates on?
We have hundreds of guidance notes and accompanying templates covering a full spectrum of employment-related issues, including Maternity, Pay, Flexible Working, Holidays, Performance and Redundancy. All of these resources are created by our experts, and if you require further support or have any questions, you can contact your dedicated team of advisers for practical advice and guidance.
What does the HR Software do?
There can be a great deal of administration involved in managing employees, and the burden only increases as your business grows. If filing cabinets of employee information is no longer cutting it, our HR Software will help to automate your processes, save valuable time and manage HR tasks at the touch of a button. Use it to store and organise employee data and essential documents; manage and report on holidays, absence, timesheets and rostering; stay on top of employee reviews; maintain a comprehensive employee directory, and keep a record of training and development.
Why choose us?
Experts in Employment Law & HR
At WorkNest, we’re known for our bespoke service and the quality of our support. Not only is our expertise unmatched, but we take the time to know you so that we can function as a true extension of your team.
- Your own small team of dedicated experts
- Commercial, pragmatic advice tailored to you
- Bespoke contracts, policies and handbooks
- Trusted by over 40,000 organisations
- Recognised as a leading firm by The Legal 500
Who you’ll be working with
Angela Carter
Director of Legal Services
Toyah Marshall
Head of Team
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
Client stories
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Gus Hosein
Executive Director, Privacy International
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WorkNest supports our 280 staff members with Employment Law and Health & Safety and has provided quality management training too.”
Lisa Best
Head of Service Delivery, Catalyst Choice
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We get a great deal of comfort and satisfaction knowing that we have support as and when we need it, in a decisive and responsive way.”
Richard Berry
Group HR Director, Culina Group
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We moved our legal support to WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) having previously used a time and line law firm. It was important, though, that an all-inclusive fee structure did not come at the expense of quality. Thankfully we’ve been delighted with the service we’ve received from WorkNest.”
Chief Executive
Waverley Care
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What we recognised in WorkNest is the background that they have. They are able to supply knowledge and experience in a number of disciplines, which enables us to develop our business in a way that’s safe, to do it on time and with a quality to it.”
Debbie Rainbow
Director of Human Resources and Health & Safety,
Bluestone National Park Resort
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Celia McKeon
Chief Executive, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT)
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As the company started to get larger, we knew we had to protect our employees and our contractors both onsite and in the offices. WorkNest is exactly what we needed to move the company forward.”
Joanne Beaver
Operations Director, Beaverfit
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Pineapple have worked with the team at WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) since 2003, and we have built a trusted partnership together. We particularly like WorkNest’s concise and practical advice concerning employment law/HR issues and also appreciate their totally supportive approach in all areas of health and safety.”
General Manager
Pineapple Dance Studios
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I’ve taken WorkNest into every organisation that I’ve worked with. I’ve introduced them to many teams and many colleagues and referred them with absolute pleasure because I genuinely trust in the service that we get.”
People Director, The Works
