Are your organisation’s employment contracts and restrictive covenants suitable for the new world of work? Do they truly protect business-critical information at a time when competitors could poach talent? Joanna Sutton looks at why your contracts may need modernising.
Over the past two-and-a-half years we’ve seen dramatic changes to our working practices. The move to hybrid working brought on by the pandemic, and the tight labour market which has seen record job-to-job moves as employers compete for talent, have left many employment contracts and staff handbooks out of date.
Relatively few employers have paid heed to the legal implications of home and hybrid working. Generally, the legal aspect is an afterthought, if considered at all, with the assumption being that existing contracts and staff handbooks would cover these new working arrangements. However, this is not the case and there are huge risks to employers if matters such as data protection and the health and safety obligations are not provided for in employment documentation.
For instance, many employees are using their own devices such as laptops and mobile phones when working from home. Whilst this saves the employer the cost of buying further equipment, it means that employees have unlimited access to contact details for clients and customers, often saved on these devices, which they would then be able to access if they were to leave and work for a competitor. Not only is this...
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