Employment Agreement: Content and Tone
This is the second software company I've worked for, and both have required all new employees to sign an Employment Agreement. My present company has an agreemtn that was a legal contract boilerplate, not designed by the company for the company, and certainly not with the employees' ionterests as priority. Consequently, the CEO has asked me to lead a team reqirte to make the document friendlier. The objective is to build a positive and long term relationship, NOT to intimidate or offend new employees with overbearing rules and regulations.
Before the team started reviewing sentence and word level changes, we
will assess the topics and structure of the document. The existing agreement
includes the following main
topic headings:
1. Scope of Duties and Acknowledgment
2. Ownership of Inventions and Other Developments
3. Confidentiality of Trade Secrets and Business Information
4. At-Will Employment
5. Termination of Employment
6. Prohibition Against Competitive Activities After Employment
7. Prohibition Against Unfair Solicitation Practices
8. Information Systems (IDs is the company's property with rules for
use)
9. Arbitration of Employment Disputes
10. References by (the company) to Prospective Employers of Former
Company Employees
11. Other Terms of Agreement
Legally, most of the items are probably necessary, but the language
of our document, as well as the one from the last company, is dogmatic
and dictatorial in tone and filled with
legalese, none of which is acceptable in our corporate culture.
My questions are to those of you who have experience with similar agreements.
What characterizes your agreement? How would you describe the overall
effect
on employees? What suggestions could you offer for a radical rewrite
that would still meet the requirements for protecting the company's property?
Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Send replies to me, and if there appears to be general interest, I will summarize for the list.
Kris
--------------- "enabling the extended enterprise" -------------
Kris Beer
Arkona
Manager Technical Communications 4505 Wasatch Blvd,
Suite 340
Phone +1 801 424-0044 x30
Salt Lake City, UT 84124
kris -dot- beer -at- arkona -dot- com
www.arkona.com
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