What Should I Include in an Employment Contract?
An employment contract should create clarity before day one. Founders need to cover role, pay, hours, notice, confidentiality, intellectual property and key obligations.
What Should I Include in an Employment Contract?
An employment contract is not just legal paperwork. It is a clarity document.
It tells the employee what they are joining, what they will be paid, how the relationship works and what both sides can expect.
This article is general guidance only and is not legal advice. Contracts should be checked by a qualified adviser.
Cover the basic terms
A startup employment contract should usually cover:
1. Job title
2. Start date
3. Salary
4. Working hours
5. Place of work
6. Holiday entitlement
7. Notice period
8. Probation period
9. Reporting line
10. Benefits
These basics should be clear before the person starts.
Explain the role without over-restricting it
Startup roles change. The contract can describe the role while allowing reasonable flexibility.
However, avoid making the role so broad that it becomes meaningless.
The candidate should understand what they are joining to do.
Include confidentiality
Startups often handle sensitive information, including customer data, commercial plans, investor discussions, product ideas and pricing.
Confidentiality clauses help protect the business.
This is especially important when hiring early employees who may have access to a wide range of information.
Deal with intellectual property
If an employee creates work, code, content, processes or product assets during employment, the business needs clarity on ownership.
This is particularly important for technology, product, marketing and design roles.
Do not leave intellectual property to assumption.
Include policies and procedures
The contract may refer to separate policies, such as:
1. Disciplinary procedure
2. Grievance procedure
3. Data protection
4. IT and equipment use
5. Remote working
6. Expenses
Keep policies practical and current.
Final thought
A good employment contract reduces confusion and protects both sides.
It should be clear, fair and suitable for the role and stage of the business.
How Spinwell Startups can help
Spinwell Startups helps founders connect the employment contract to the actual role being hired.
As a specialist recruitment company for startups, we support structured onboarding and help founders understand what should be clarified before a candidate starts. For country-specific legal wording, founders should always take qualified local advice.
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