Never Miss Checking These 5 Points in Your Offer Letter

An offer letter is a critical document. It gives you all the required information you must know before starting a new job. Offer letters are different from employment contracts, yet they do play a significant role in legal matters. As explained in a story published in yourstory.com, “In a contract of employment, it becomes essential to formulate a tenable contract through the process of offer and acceptance which are the essential ingredients of a contract. It falls under the purview of section 3 to 8 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. The offer letter is the preliminary step (apart from the application stage) in this process offering employment terms and seeking their acceptance.”

Therefore, an offer letter works as evidence if your employee fails to pay the salary promised as per the offer letter, or say, the job responsibilities offered on the job differ from what is mentioned on paper. Hence, it is important to go through the offer letter carefully and point pitfalls out, if any. Here are the points you should be looking at while scrutinizing this document.

The basics:

This includes the job title or the designation, salary, department where you are posted, who you will be reporting to, working hours, starting date, and notice period. Do check if your name has been spelled correctly and the dates are mentioned correctly throughout.

Review terms and conditions for salary:

Check the figure, taxes, reimbursements, deferred compensation like a percentage of company shares, additional bonuses that you had discussed with your employer. Understand how and when does the annual appraisal take place.

Insurances:

Gone are the days when health insurance was termed under fringe benefits. With the rise in the number of lifestyle-related diseases, health insurance is one of the useful benefits that a company provides you. This is followed by life insurance and motor vehicle insurance. Not all companies offer the latter two, but health cover is commonly made available by the companies for the employees. The offer letter should clearly state the information about the cost, value, inclusions, and ceilings of these perks.

Information technology privacy policy:

IT Policy helps the employee understand his rights and duties while using office-approved technology. The policy underlines what is excluded when it comes to using all kinds of technological equipment, hardware, software, and social media in the office. On the other hand, laws to protect employees' privacy at the workplace are also mentioned under this clause. Before sharing your email address or any other cyber details, read the terms and conditions laid down by the company properly.

Also Read:

What is the difference between an offer letter and a contract?

Non-compete:

To protect their intellectual property and other confidential details of the company from being shared with the competitors, companies restrict employees from working with competitors or immediate clients right after they leave the company. Make sure that a reasonable tenure is mentioned under this clause, and it should be applicable to a specific geographical area only.

In case of any doubt, ask questions from your employer-to-be and try renegotiating the terms that you think are unfair or arbitrary.