Contract

If you are curious about how to read a contract properly, that means you were successful in your interview and have been accepted for the job. Congratulations! That is the hard part over with. Now on to the easy bit, or so it may seem. You should receive a draft of your contract, in which you will read through the most important aspects of the terms of your employment. You must, firstly, check that the final agreement displays your name, the employer’s name and the company or organization's name, correctly. This is the fundamental part of any contract.

Secondly, you should make sure that you have negotiated your salary beforehand, and check that the figure you have agreed on is displayed correctly on the contract thereafter. Then, thirdly, you should make sure that you have agreed on how many days off and holidays you will get per year, and, in addition, if you receive a bonus or commission if you are working in sales. It is very important to check that everything that was agreed verbally, with your employer, is displayed correctly on the contract, and signed.

Are you considering leaving your present employment? To begin with, you should always read an employment contract before signing it, thus bringing it into effect. There may be cases, however, when an employment contract can be broken, for example, if it states in your contract that you will receive a certain salary, bonuses, holidays etc., and that is not fulfilled, you are entitled to leave your employment, after which, you could be entitled to compensation for such injustices. You can find more information at Citizens Information.

Negotiating the terms of your contract really depends on the nature of your work, the type of company, and what you have to offer compared to the other candidates, who might be willing to do the same standard of work for less. If you are a specialist in your field of work and have extensive experience, you may well be in a position to bargain.

If, for example, you are trying to negotiate your waiter/waitress work contract, you may be politely shown the door if you ask for too much, for example, “I am planning to go to Ibiza with my mates for 2 weeks in July…”, which may be very inconvenient for most employers, as they may need you there in during that time. Likewise, if you are thinking about asking for higher pay, you may just be told that the other candidate got the job.

There may be a section in your contract that restricts you, by law, to work for a rival company for a certain time. You should always read your contract before signing it.