Seconding Your Employees? You Need A Secondment Agreement

Like many businesses, there may be times where you may need to send your employees directly to your client’s office to complete a project. This is often called a secondment.

With any secondment, it’s a good idea to have a Secondment Agreement in place between your business and your client (or other business) to whom you are sending your employee.

This is because, while you are sending your employee to work for another business, they are still your employee. As such, you’ll need to establish a really clear agreement.

What Is Included In A Secondment Agreement?

Though it might seem like common practice in your industry to send your employees on secondment, it’s still really important to have something in writing.

Often, a Secondment Agreement will set out:

• How payment will work. Since you’re still paying your employee for their work, you’ll need to discuss how the other business will pay you (and what happens if payment isn’t made).

• Performance expectations. Your employee will be sent to a different business entirely, where they will definitely work differently to your business. As such, it’s important to set out clear expectations around performance.

• Timelines. Depending on the size and scale of the project, it’s probably a good idea to set out an expected timeframe on your project (for example, you could include milestones).

• Non-poaching. Even though you’ll be sending your employee to work for another business, they’re still technically your employee. As such, you should make sure your interests are protected and avoid any allowances for that business to “poach” your employee in the future.

These are only some of the clauses we’d normally see in a Secondment Agreement. A good lawyer can work with you to customise a contract tailored to your specific requirements.

You’ll be able to re-use this Secondment Agreement for all of your secondments going forward, so it’s a great long term investment to speak with a lawyer first.

Need Help With A Secondment Agreement?

If you need help with a Secondment Agreement, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!

Our friendly team is happy to jump on a call with you to discuss your options. You can reach out to us at 1800 730 617 or drop us a line at team@sprintlaw.com.au.

Regie Anne Gardoce

Regie is the Legal Transformation Lead at Sprintlaw, with a law degree from UNSW. Regie has previous experience working across law firms and tech startups, and has brought these passions together in her work at Sprintlaw.