Importance of a Written Contract

You will get a written employment contract only after you accept the job offer. The written contract will include all the details of the offer letter and more details provided by the employer. With a written contract you can exert the rights given to you under the contract. Further, you are bound by the duties given in the contract. The contract will establish:

• Your salary/remuneration.
• Your role and job description.
• The duration of time working with your employer.
• The employer’s responsibilities such as following the notice period while firing an employee, payment of salary etc.
• The employee’s responsibilities such as standard of performance of the job offered to them, following the work timings of the organization etc.
• Remedial processes if things happen to go wrong, for example, methods of resolving disputes etc.
• A list of all the things you are restricted from doing so that there is no conflict with your new employer. For example, non-disclosure, non-solicitation clauses.

Other purposes for which you can use the employment contract are:

• applying to banks for loans, or when filing your tax return, you can also produce the contract as proof of employment.
• renting a house or applying for any visa/passport application.

You should make sure that your contract covers all the important terms as it will be hard to add or change any term in your contract after you sign it.