• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Employment (offer) letter

Employment

So, I have been away for a few weeks attending to family matters. Actually, I became a grand mum again. I know I don’t look old enough to be a grand mum. Thanks for all the congratulations. So, why have I been off if I am the grand mum and not the mother? Well in my culture as the grand I’m literally dropping everything to be with the new mum. How do we integrate tradition, family culture and the work place? In the days when my father was a human resource director, they did not try to integrate but now the world is changing and dynamic companies are taking many things into consideration.

Today, in line with completing our recruitment journey we will be talking about the employment letter which is actually the offer letter. The fact that it is called an offer means it can be accepted or it can be turned down. For example, the candidate may choose to accept the job offer and return a signed letter as a formal acceptance of the position. The reverse or a counter offer may be the case if the offer doesn’t meet the candidate’s compensation package expectation

The offer letter does not become an employment letter until it is accepted by the proposed employee and signed by him/her. Once it is accepted, it then becomes a contract, binding on both parties. To change it will mean a variation or even a termination of the original contract.

The contract must contain certain terms and conditions. A contract gives both you and your employee certain rights and obligations. The most common example is that the employee has the right to be paid for the work done while the employer has the right to give reasonable instructions to employee to ensure the work is done.

What should be included in such a letter is usually almost fixed but you must be sure what the role is – permanent, contract, full time, part time or a commission-based employment.

The offer letter is necessary because it helps to show the basic terms and conditions under which the job can be down. I say basic terms because there are some more details that will most likely be in the company’s hand book or other documents.

There are many companies who don’t give out letters of employment and so their employees really have no clue what their employment is based on or what it contains. There are no terms and conditions. This means there is no consistency in work done and no consistency in quality expected and quality delivered. There will always be issues that come up from time to time and things that need to be explained and resolved as time goes on. A verbal job offer is usually not worth much because either or both parties may forget what they agreed or more importantly may not be able to enforce what was agreed.

In some countries, the labour laws govern terms and conditions of employment. However, in our environment because we don’t have robust labour laws it is always best to give offer letters. Those with unskilled daily paid workers I know don’t ever bother with documentation because of the very nature of employment. It is transient and unstable.

Like I said before consistency will be difficult and when there is no consistency even the customers are not satisfied.

I remember once many years ago my pharmacist brother was explaining the need for formulas, weights and measurements and documentation. He wanted me to imagine what it would seem like if every time I opened a bottle of coke it was a different taste and I was not sure what it would taste like for sure. I would soon lose interest in the product.

Documentation also helps the company not to have reinvent the wheel every time somebody needs to be employed.

A good employment contract is beneficial to both the employee and the employer. It spells out the rights and obligations of each party, protects the job security of the employee and protects the employer from certain risks such as the release of confidential employer information after the term of employment ends.

The content of a letter of offer are the following at the very least.

What kind of position contract permanent or part time? job description, job title reporting structure, starting date of employment and length of probation, salary and benefits information and eligibility, acknowledgment of offer and confirmation of acceptance.

The job offer may be conditional, which means it’s contingent upon the proposed employee completing additional steps like passing a background check, reference check, or a pre-employment drug test.

As much as you can it is always good to do background checks to ensure the information given is correct and, in some cases, to establish the integrity of the proposed employee. There was once we were the recruitment consultants to a university and we were helping them recruit a bursar.

When we conducted a background check, we discovered that the candidate had been dismissed from one of his jobs which immediately threw up a red flag. We also then found out that he was building a few houses. This told us he somehow had much more money than his employment was giving him and we could not see where the excess money was coming from. Needless to say, he was never employed. We will be talking about background checks in another article.

This offer is usually stated that it is for a certain time only just to ensure that the contract can be signed and completed within a reasonable time frame. This is to ensure the company is not held to ransom and made to leave the offer on the table indefinitely.

This offer letter once signed becomes one of the documents in the employee file.

The offer letter that becomes a contract upon signature of the two parties, the employer’s representative and the proposed employee. It is an extremely important document that both parties keep a copy of and each must keep safe because it forms the basis of their relationship.

As the year draws to a close, it is a time to ensure this year’s goals were met and next year’s goals are being set. In setting goals, it is important these days to think completely out of the box because the only companies making waves are those that are disrupting the industries, they are in. Doing things in absolutely different ways. Have a great weekend.

 

OLAMIDE BALOGUN