It's all in the detail

Years ago when placing an interior designer on a permanent basis the employment contracts tended to be fairly standard; companies rarely offered many benefits and the contracts were promptly signed by both parties, however times have changed.

We are in a candidate driven market and recently, when designers receive an employment contract or even before they go to a second interview they are closely scrutinizing and questioning the contract and benefits.

This shouldn’t be a problem if you have recently updated your employment contracts or read the fine print on your pension contributions but if you’re anything like me, with the best intentions in the world, this often sinks to the bottom of my to-do list.

So why is this important and does it even matter that you can’t recite it backwards? Well yes, as it is starting to have knock on consequences. Only a few weeks ago an interior designer declined a great financial offer from an award-winning design studio after going through the contract in detail and not being satisfied by the ‘delayed’ answers given by the employer. Which in turn, made the designer question if it was the right company for them.

Last week another interior designer was enquiring about the companies working from home policy and if it was written into the employment contract. In this case the hybrid working agreement was only verbal however the designer was only keen to attend the second stage interview if it was set out in the contract. Why? Because they had a difficult situation arise in a previous company and understood the importance of having it in writing.

Another hot question when we discuss a permanent opportunity by an interior designer is ‘What is the Christmas closure policy and am I required to take it out of my allocation?’ Be warned, we are finding it’s not a popular question when the answer is “yes”.

Although employers have every right to be firm in a contract it can potentially give the wrong impression of your company culture. A very good example of how a company approached their employment contract was to supplement it with a beautiful graphically designed company handbook which was personable, relatable and showed openness. It covered everything from what music they have in the office, the importance of offering others a cup of tea when you make one, all the way through to their maternity leave policy.

Since the pandemic Interior Designer’s have had the opportunity to assess what is important to them and a work life balance with a company that offers attractive benefits is crucial, especially when we spend a huge portion of our lives at work. Richard Branson once quoted “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”

If you ever wanted to discuss your company benefits or gain some ideas that you could offer your employees feel free to contact me at any time.