Online employment contract signing made simple

Upkeeping existing contracts digitally and physically, updating details of the same contract on-demand for every new joiner creates overheads for company admins and managers. Because of that many businesses move to signing contracts online and using contract templates. Another great benefit is that e-signatures can be used to sign formal legal documents like Employment Contracts in the UK.

Signing contracts online – is it legitimate?

Digital contracts and electronic signatures of those contracts are a recognised legally binding document, accepted by law in many countries like UK, Germany, France, USA and more. That is why many businesses are already using e-signatures and are signing contracts online today. From purchase orders to employment contracts.

However it is important to check that your digital contract and online signature process holds up to the following general standards, especially relevant to the Employment Contract.

• All signing parties have to agree to doing so digitally. Consider offering a physical contract option to your new joiner.
• The contract must have the latest and correct information on both parties. Ensure you have the most up-to-date information for the new joiner or, if the platform allows, ask new joiner to populate the relevant information in the contract themselves.
• Signing parties must be logged into the platform via which they are signing the contract.
• Once the signature is completed, the Employer must retain an audit trail of the document which clearly states the creation date and place, signature time and place as well as participants information.
• The signed document must have a stamp with a unique ID on it that corresponds to the Audit trail document alongside it.

NB: your local law may require additional security standards. Whatever platform you use ensure that it meets the required standards of contract signing and signature witnessing.

Signing contracts online is as secure as signing them physically. Ensuring that the platform the you use verifies the signed in user and not sharing the invite link with non-signing parties are the key steps to protecting the digital contract.

Automate employment contract creation and signing

Zelt takes care of streamlining your admin tasks like securing a signature on any company or employee documents. Use the templates feature for any documents that are standardised and only specific terms are adapted to a specific employee such as salary, start date and job title.

Simply upload your current contracts to Zelt, add Smart Fields and start sending them from one place without revisiting any document to update personal details of your employees.

Smart Fields work as placeholders that will ingest employee details when the contract template is sent to them.

One of available Smart Fields is a Signature field that you can request from a company representative and/or from the employee themselves. Today, most of us are familiar with e-signatures and know that it is an efficient, legally binding way to approve a digital document.

Download UK work contract template

Zelt provides you with a contract template UK which was drafted and approved by a reputable UK law firm, so you can kick start your digital contract management in no time. This is a great starting starting point for founders, COOs and heads of HR and People in the UK that want to get started. Enter your details below and we’ll send it straight to your inbox.