Human resource management: employment packages, agreements and contracts

Business Management -> Human resource management: employment packages, agreements and contracts



Employment packages, agreements and contracts

The employer and the prospective employee must then meet to discuss remuneration and the terms and conditions of employment. An award or an enterprise agreement may already have set the actual remuneration levels and the terms and conditions of employment. The 'safety net' of employment terms and conditions would have already been prescribed by legislation, either State, Commonwealth, or Country legislation. However, there may also be an individual contract that may be drawn up between the employee and the employer.

The actual terms and conditions of employment may vary greatly between employees. The actual level of remuneration included in the individual's employment package may be a combination of material and non-material types. The individual employee and the employer will need to consider all relevant legislation, when negotiating the employment package. There are many different types of benefits that may be included in an employment package for employees. They include motor vehicles, education expenses, share issues, profit sharing arrangements, vacations, provision of technological equipment, e.g. mobile computers and mobile phones, office location, and other benefits such as medical expenses, retirement funds, and superannuation contributions. The majority of employees will, however, simply be offered a flat wage and 'safety net' terms and conditions of employment.

There are a number of workplace agreements that a prospective employee may be asked to agree to and sign before accepting employment. These agreements may be in the form of a Workplace Agreement, a Certified Agreement,an Enterprise Flexibility Agreement, or a similar Agreement by another name, depending in which part of the world you reside or are working in. These agreements will set out rates of pay, conditions of work including hours of work, leave provisions, employee relations and dispute resolution procedures, termination or severance processes and career and promotion paths. Management will have decided which of these agreements will be used within the organisation.

On the other hand, an individual employee contract may be used to set out all of the above conditions. This contract will be between the individual employee and the employer and be for a stated period of time and negotiated directly between the individual employee and the employer.