I'm back! I didn't actually go anywhere, I've just been busy trying to meet client demands and deadlines. In trying times, you don't want to alienate the hands that feed you.
So, now that I've got three matters where this has come up, I figured it was time to share it with you. Policies. If you've been following along the last few months, you know that I've discussed company policy manuals and keeping them updated. What's in there matters and it often governs your rights and obligations as an employee or a manager.
But, what if you have an employment agreement? Many of us do (I do, for instance) and it spells out the exact terms of our job situation. Does the employment agreement trump a policy? It certainly does. If it didn't, your contract would be meaningless.
Suppose, for instance, you sign an employment agreement to work as a salesman. In your contract you are given 8% commission on the sales you make. Let us also suppose that the world economy takes a dive and your employer finds itself in a situation of declining revenue and needs to cut corners. Your employer cannot create a new corporate policy and place it in the policy manual that changes all sales commission rates from 8% to 6% (or any other number, for that matter).
Contracts are meant to lend predictability to our commercial transactions. If we remove that predictability, we are disserving the purpose of the agreement and commercial relations, generally. You know, the whole ripples on the water concept.
An employment contract is a bargained for situation and to allow policies to trump those bargained for items places unilateral and complete control of the employment situation in the hands of the employer. It also makes putting together the employment agreement a complete waste of time. As my contracts professor used to say, we don't like that.
Tomorrow- contract renewal.
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