In Approval

According to a latest study conducted by Which? Legal Service, more than five million UK citizens do not read employment contracts carefully.

The consumer group’s survey of 4000 employees found that 26% just scanned through their contracts and 6% did not bother to read the contract.

Three in ten workers were given their employment contracts before starting work while 9% were not given a contract until they had been in the position for a period of six months.

About two million Brit workers had not been given job contracts by their employers.

The CEO of Which? Peter Vicary-Smith said that the research demonstrated that a large number of employees neglected to read their job contracts properly, meaning that they weren’t sure what they were signing up for and could have disappointments in the future.

He said that workers must necessarily read the full contract to determine whether employment conditions such as notice period, lay-off procedure, office holidays and salary are the same as those agreed upon by the employer in the interview. Vicary-Smith added that crossing the’t’s and dotting the ‘i’s would prevent shocks in the future.

Employers must give employees a written employment contract comprising the employment terms. Workplace Law’s Employment Contract and Management Guide v.5.0 listed all necessary details to educate employers on legal compliance to ensure that they provided correct details of the employer-employee agreements. The policy also included a Management Guide of 23 pages containing notes on employer provisions and policies.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the professional body for those involved in the management and development of people. Workplace Law run CIPD courses throughout the UK; the Certificate in HR Practice course will help those to gain a broad grasp of employment law and understand how to implement best practice in recruitment and selection.