Job Agreement Checklist For Your First Employee

Hiring your first employee is a big step. You might be moving from doing everything yourself to finally having someone in the business who can take real work off your plate.

It can be tempting to send a friendly offer email and sort the details later. But when someone becomes your employee, UK employment law expects more than a casual message.

A clear job agreement, often called a contract of employment, helps you set expectations from day one. It protects your business, gives your new hire certainty, and reduces the chance of awkward disputes later about pay, hours, notice, ownership of work or confidentiality.

Do You Need A Job Agreement For Your First Employee?

Yes, you need written employment terms when you hire your first employee in England and Wales. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, you must give employees a principal statement and certain key information no later than their first day of work. The wider written statement of employment particulars must be provided within 2 months of the start of employment.

In practice, most businesses use a contract of employment that includes those required particulars plus extra clauses that protect the business. Giving the full contract before the start date is best practice and is usually much better than sending a short offer email and hoping your policies fill the gaps.

Your job agreement should make the basics clear, such as:

• who is employing the person
• their job title and duties
• their start date
• their place of work, including any remote or hybrid arrangements
• their pay and when it will be paid
• their hours of work
• holiday entitlement
• sick leave and sick pay arrangements
• notice periods
• probation period, if you want one
• disciplinary and grievance procedures
• pension arrangements

A written statement isn't always the full contract, but your contract can include the written statement requirements. That way, you have one practical document that your employee signs before they start.

If you hire someone without proper written terms, you may still have an employment relationship. The risk is that the important details are unclear. If there's later a disagreement about notice, hours, bonuses, restrictions or who owns creative work, you may have a harder time proving what was agreed.

Is A Free Employee Contract Template Enough?

It depends on the template and your business, but a free template often needs tailoring before you use it. A generic employee contract template UK businesses find online may include the basics, but it may not deal properly with your role, workplace, IP, confidentiality, probation or industry risks.

For example, a contract for a junior cafe assistant will look very different from a contract for your first software developer. Both employees need legally compliant written terms, but the developer contract should usually have stronger clauses around intellectual property, confidential information, access to systems and restrictions after employment.

A template can be a helpful starting point if you know what each clause means. The problem is that templates often:

• use outdated law or old holiday wording
• miss first day principal statement requirements
• include restrictions that are too broad to be useful
• fail to assign IP to your business
• mix up employees, workers and contractors
• leave blank sections that create uncertainty

Say Priya runs a small online skincare brand and hires her first marketing assistant on a salary of £28,000. The assistant will create product descriptions, social media captions, email campaigns and graphics. If Priya uses a bare offer letter that only mentions pay and start date, she may later face a dispute about whether the assistant owns the content they created. A tailored employment agreement would deal with that from the start.

Templates work best when they're reviewed and adjusted for your business before anyone signs. You don't need a 40 page document for every first hire, but you do need clauses that match the role and the risks.

What Must Be Included In A UK Employment Agreement?

Your employment agreement should include the written particulars required by the Employment Rights Act 1996, plus practical clauses that protect your business. The law sets the minimum, but a well drafted contract should go a bit further.

Contract Of Employment Checklist

Use this checklist as a working outline, not as a finished legal document. A lawyer should tailor it before you rely on it.

1. Employer and employee details: name your business correctly, including the company number if you trade through a company.
2. Job title and duties: describe the role, and allow reasonable changes as the business grows.
3. Start date and continuous employment: state the first day of employment, any fixed term end date and whether any previous service counts.
4. Place of work: cover office, site based, remote or hybrid work arrangements.
5. Hours of work: set ordinary hours, breaks and any flexibility you need.
6. Pay: state salary or hourly rate, payment dates, any commission or bonus arrangements and any deductions you may lawfully make.
7. Holiday: include statutory holiday entitlement, holiday year and approval process.
8. Sickness: explain reporting requirements and statutory or company sick pay.
9. Notice: set notice during and after probation, while meeting statutory minimums.
10. Probation: explain length, review process and whether notice is shorter during probation.
11. Confidentiality: protect customer lists, pricing, business plans, systems and trade secrets.
12. Intellectual property: make sure work created for your business belongs to your business.
13. Policies and procedures: refer to disciplinary, grievance, data protection, health and safety, AI use and other policies.
14. Pension: mention workplace pension and auto enrolment where relevant.
15. Restrictions after employment: only include these where they're reasonable and needed.

Some details can sit in a staff handbook or policy rather than the contract itself. That can make them easier to update later. But key terms such as pay, hours, holidays and notice should be clear in the contract.

How Should You Word Pay, Hours And Leave?

You should word pay, hours and leave clearly, with enough detail that payroll and rostering are easy to manage. This is where first time employers often create accidental confusion.

For pay, state the salary or hourly rate, how often it is paid and whether it's paid in arrears. You must also comply with the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rules. From 1 April 2026, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 per hour. Different rates apply for younger workers and apprentices, so check the current HMRC rates before you hire.

For hours, be realistic. If the role is 37.5 hours per week, say that. If the person may need to work occasional extra hours, explain how that works and whether overtime is paid or included in salary. If you need shift flexibility, say how much notice you'll usually give.

For holidays, most employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year. For someone working 5 days per week, that is 28 days. You can include bank holidays within that entitlement, as long as the contract says so clearly.

For sick leave, set out how the employee should notify you if they're unwell. From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay is £123.25 per week or 80% of the employee's average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for eligible employees, paid for up to 28 weeks. If you offer more generous company sick pay, spell out the rules carefully.

Here is a simple worked example. You hire Sam to work 3 days per week in your design studio. A full time employee working 5 days gets 28 days of holiday, so Sam's statutory holiday is 3/5 of 28 days, which is 16.8 days per year. Your contract should say how you round or calculate that entitlement and whether bank holidays come out of it.

What Should Your Probation And Notice Clauses Say?

Your probation and notice clauses should say how long the trial period lasts, what standard you expect, and how much notice either side must give. A probation period doesn't remove employment rights, but it gives you a structured way to assess whether the hire is working out.

A common probation period is 3 or 6 months. Your contract can also let you extend probation if you need more time to assess performance, as long as you act reasonably and the wording allows it.

During probation, you might use a shorter notice period, such as one week, provided you still meet the statutory minimum. After one month of employment, the statutory minimum notice you must give an employee is one week. After 2 years, it increases to one week for each complete year of service, up to a maximum of 12 weeks.

Your contract can give more notice than the statutory minimum. It can't give less. If your contractual notice is too vague, you may end up arguing about what is reasonable at the worst possible time.

A Practical Probation Example

Mike runs a cleaning business and hires his first operations coordinator on a 6 month probation period. The contract says either party can give one week's notice during probation, and one month's notice after probation.

After 4 months, Mike has concerns about missed client calls and poor scheduling. Because the contract has a probation process, Mike can hold a review meeting, keep notes, give clear feedback and decide whether to extend probation or end employment with the correct notice. Without that wording, the conversation is harder and the exit risk is higher.

You should also remember that for dismissals before 1 January 2027, ordinary unfair dismissal rights usually require 2 years' service. From 1 January 2027, the qualifying period for protection from ordinary unfair dismissal is due to reduce to 6 months. Employees also have day one protections, including protection from discrimination and whistleblowing detriment. A probation clause is useful, but it isn't a free pass to dismiss for an unlawful reason.

Do You Need IP And Confidentiality Clauses For A First Hire?

Yes, most first hire contracts should include intellectual property and confidentiality clauses. This is especially true if the employee will create content, software, designs, processes, client materials, training resources, branding, product ideas or sales documents.

UK copyright law will often mean that copyright created by an employee in the course of employment belongs to the employer. But you shouldn't rely on that alone. A clear IP clause reduces doubt by confirming that work created for your business belongs to your business, and that the employee must sign further documents if needed.

This matters a lot for startups. If you later raise investment, sell your business or licence your technology, investors and buyers will usually ask who owns the IP. If your first employee built core assets without proper IP wording, due diligence can become uncomfortable.

Your confidentiality clause should cover information the employee may access, such as:

• customer and supplier lists
• pricing and margins
• business plans and pitch decks
• software code, product roadmaps and technical information
• marketing plans and analytics
• passwords, systems access and internal processes

You should also connect your contract to your data protection practices. If the employee will handle personal data, your policies should reflect the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. For example, you may need rules about using business devices, accessing customer records, sending data outside your systems and reporting data incidents quickly.

For senior or customer facing roles, you might consider restrictions after employment, such as non solicitation of clients or staff. These clauses need to be reasonable in scope, length and geography. If they're too broad, they may be difficult to enforce. Tailored drafting is worth it here.

How Do You Give The Agreement To Your New Employee?

You should give the agreement before the employee starts, with enough time for them to read it and ask questions. The principal statement and certain key information must be provided by day one, and the wider written statement must be provided within 2 months. Sending a full contract before the start date is much better for everyone.

A practical first hire process can look like this:

1. Confirm the role internally: decide duties, pay, hours, location, reporting line and start date.
2. Prepare the contract: include the required written terms and business protection clauses.
3. Attach relevant policies: include or refer to disciplinary, grievance, data protection, health and safety and remote work policies where relevant.
4. Send the contract before the start date: give the employee time to review it properly.
5. Get a signed copy: use an electronic signature process or signed PDF, and keep it securely.
6. Set up payroll and records: register as an employer with HMRC if needed, operate PAYE and keep employment records.
7. Review after probation: confirm whether probation has been passed, extended or ended, and keep written notes.

If you use a company, make sure the employer named in the contract is the correct legal entity. If your business is ABC Studio Ltd, the contract shouldn't casually name you personally as the employer unless that's genuinely the arrangement.

You should also make sure your offer letter and contract don't contradict each other. For example, if the offer email says the role is fully remote but the contract says the employee must work from your London office 5 days per week, you're creating a dispute before the job has even started.

Employment law is also changing under the Employment Rights Act 2025, including changes to unfair dismissal rights and other workplace protections. Some details will apply as reforms come into force, so it's sensible to keep first hire contracts under review rather than treating them as a one off document forever.

Key Takeaways

• A job agreement for your first employee should be more than a friendly offer email. It should include the required written terms under the Employment Rights Act 1996.
• The principal statement and certain key information are due by day one, while the wider written statement must be provided within 2 months.
• Your contract should clearly cover pay, hours, holidays, sickness, notice, probation, duties and workplace arrangements.
• Free templates can be useful starting points, but they often miss the clauses your business actually needs.
• IP ownership and confidentiality clauses are especially important if your employee will create content, code, designs, client materials or business assets.
• Probation wording helps you manage the first few months properly, but employees still have key rights from day one.

If you'd like help with your first employee contract, probation wording, IP and confidentiality clauses or employment policies, you can reach us at 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.