If you’ve just been offered a job and presented with an employment contract, first of all, congratulations! A new job is always an exciting journey to embark on. However, before you sign on the dotted line, there are a few things you might want to consider.
Thoroughly reading through your employment contract is crucial, so that you have a clear idea of what’s to come, your roles and rights as an employee. You might want to hire an employment attorney to read it over for you and point out any issues they might find. Here are some things to check.
Your Job Description
Having a clear cut understanding of what will be required of you on a daily basis is a pretty important part of your new job. Make sure that these are details, specific and make sense to you. If you have questions about your roles or workload, don’t be afraid to reach out to your future employer to ask questions.
Your Work Hours
Certain jobs might require that you work weekends, evenings, work overtime, travel a lot or be required to work strange hours on short notice. Make sure that you’re aware of the set-up and whether or not you’re happy with it and willing to comply.
This should always be fair and your work hours always need to account for time off throughout the week, since a healthy work-life balance is important for productivity and mental health.
Your Salary
Make sure that the salary being offered to you is in line with what you agreed on during discussions with your employer. Find out about any additional benefits such as health insurance, a pension fund, a company car or annual bonuses.
You might also want to check for any information regarding reimbursements on travel fees when you’re required to drive or perhaps travel long-distance for work.
Your Employment Period
Unless your contract is permanent, you’ll want to know the exact dates of the start and end of your employment. On this note, check out the notice period you’ll need to give if you find yourself wanting or needing to resign.
Your Leave
Typically, you should be assigned a prescribed amount of leave days for various reasons: sick leave, annual leave, family leave, maternity leave, etc. Make sure you’re familiar with this and understand whether or not your leave will build up over years or if you’ll have to take your leave days within a designated span of time.
All of this information will become important when you find yourself in an emergency or want to book a holiday.
Your Work Location
This is particularly important since 2020 – will you be working on-site or remotely? Some companies employ a hybrid model where employees spend some time in the office and the rest of their time working from home.
Discuss this with your employer to find out how their company likes to run things and what will work best for both parties.