The Importance of Written Job Offers

In this tight labor market, it’s critical that employers make every hire count. Establishing solid, best practice hiring procedures is a big step in this process. Not only are Written Job Offers important from a process standpoint, but they also provide liability protection when something goes wrong.

Making sure your new employee understands the job they are being hired for, and what the terms of employment are can become very important in a case of accused discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour violations or even lack of accommodation for physical infirmities.

Don;t make promises you aren’t prepare to keep in any job offer. Future pay increases, promotions, bonuses (unless clearly defined), should be left out of the job offer. 

Let’s break a job offer down and see why it’s so important:

Job Title and Description

Employees should clearly understand their job title, and the duties and responsibilities they will be required to perform. Ideally, you should have a detailed Job Description written before you hire, and that can either be written directly on the Written Job Offer or referenced as an attachment.

Tentative Hire Date
The Hire Date may be different than the Start date so be sure to let them know when they will be required to come in a complete new hire documents.

Tentative Start Date:

This is the day they will begin working for you. Important to state this, especially if it is different than the hire date of job offer date so that there are no ambiguities. The employee may have to give notice at a current job or finish school, so it’s important that there is a written start date.

Start Time

Obvious to most of us based on a verbal statement, but you certainly don’t want an employee showing up late because the thought you said 8:30 AM when you really wanted them to start at 8:00 AM.

Immediate Supervisor:

Very important that every employee know who they report to and answer to. Too many times small businesses have challenges with overlapping departments and confusing boundaries. Make it clear.

Weekly Schedule

Again, no ambiguities or misinterpretations in anything. You want this to be clear as day from the get-go.

Base Compensation

Yes it happens, employees have been hired and thought they would be paid a different amount than what was offered. Maybe it was their previous salary or wage, or maybe they assumed the highest wage in your job ad pay range. Either way, get it in writing and detail whether or not they are hourly, or salaried exempt (minimum $45760 annually for 25 or less employees and $49920 for 26 or more employees). THIS IS IMPORTANT. Don’t fudge in between salary and hourly, if they do not meet exempt salary requirements, they are hourly, period.

Additional Compensation

If you offer bonuses or commissions, make sure you detail that at the start. If it is a performance based commission or bonus plan, it must be detailed in a separate Sales Compensation Plan and signed by the employee.

Employee Benefits

Typically if there are any benefits like vacation or health, summarize them here but refer to an Employee Handbook or Employee Benefit Statement.

Job Offer Contingencies

IMPORTANT! Make it clear that the hiring process is not complete until any contingencies are met. These contingencies can range from a simple acceptance of the Written Job Offer to acceptance of the Sales Compensation Agreement, Background Check, Drug Screening, DMV check, etc.. (Background Checks are complicated, seek professional advice!).

Finally, have them accept or reject the offer. Make sure any contingencies are satisfied quickly. If there is a drug screening or background check involved, make sure they are directed in how to accomplish the next step. Typically, they would sign an authorization for Background or Drug screening in a separate document. Get this done immediately so nothing changes in the meantime.

Hiring employees is not rocket science, but as an HR company, we see it go wrong too often. Take this simple step and you can reduce the problems and liability associated with hiring employees. For more information, please contact the HR experts at Infinium HR.