Online Employment Contract Software

Online employment contract software is web-based software that creates and manages employment contracts on the cloud for employers.  

Online employment contract software is useful because it allows employers to draft employment contracts without the prohibitive cost of a law firm or a dedicated human resources department. Moreover, online employment contract software usually allows the user to create an employment contract faster than if they were using the old-fashioned method (i.e., editing an old Word document or PDF).

Employment Contract Generation

Online employment contract software typically creates employment contracts for users from lawyer-made templates by users filling out form fields inside a web application builder. Most employment contract software creates the contract for the user, while others, less so, require the user to insert their clauses and legal language in the application by dragging and dropping elements.

It is problem when, typically, less modern online employment contract software allows the user to modify or customize their contract with their own language. This is because most employment contract software users are typically not aware that some contractual language, particularly certain language that many employers would like to use, is illegal. When a part of a contract’s language is illegal, the whole contract can be void.

Accordingly, users should now only use modern employment contract software that does not allow the user to insert their language into the contract builder in the application. If a user must put their own language in the employment contract when it is already not offered in the web application builder, they should not use employment contract software - they should hire a lawyer. The reason it is likely missing from the web application builder is because it’s not a good idea to put it in the contract - typically, lawyers wrote the copy that the web application contract template is based on. If the lawyer chose not to insert a certain clause, they probably did so for a good reason.

Employment Contract Management

Most online employment contract software manages employment contracts by storing user-created employment contracts on a CMS cloud system that allows users to access the contracts anytime.

Modern HR CMSs not only store employment contracts, but they also offer features like, primarily, access to key employee data. Some enterprise level HR CMSs offer secondary fringe features like time tracking, scheduling, and pay and benefits management.

Send for Electronic Signature

What helps separate online employment contract software from traditional employment contract management (i.e., Word, Google Docs and PDF document creation) is the ability to send the employment contract to the employee right from the application for a legally binding electronic signature. Traditionally, the employer had to print the contract and hope to have the employee sign the contract on the first day of work (or hope the employee had a scanner). Now, with online employment contract software, employers can ensure their new employees sign their contracts as soon as they receive them via email well before the start date, ensuring far more signed contracts organization-wide.

Examples of Online Employment Contract Software

Traditional cloud-based software companies like LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer offer employment contract software, although such software could be less enforceable because their users are not prohibited from inserting their language into the employment contract (whereby the users could accidently void their own contract). Modern cloud-based software companies like goHeather are trying to solve the enforceability issue – offering employment contracts custom to each jurisdiction they operate in and without the ability to insert a user’s own language. Instead, goHeather offers various prebuilt customization paragraphs rather than form text boxes for a user’s own language. In addition, unlike any other employment contract software, goHeather has a built-in HR CMS and an electronic signature feature.