If you are looking to start a business, you will need to have in place a range of important business documents. These will help you protect your business while also providing strategic guidance.
Common business documents include a business plan, terms and conditions of service, employee handbooks and more. Read on as we discuss each of these important documents and why they are essential for your business success.
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1. Your business plan
Before starting a firm, you will need a business plan. It is an organised means of putting together the following information:
- who oversees your company
- your goods or services
- your sales and marketing strategy
- what you require in order to function successfully
- your target market and how you intend to approach it
- what the risks are in the market where you operate
- how your items or services will be supplied to your customers.
A good business plan will walk you through each stage of beginning and running your company. Your business plan will serve as a road map for how to organise, run, and grow your business. It is a method of thinking through and detailing all of the important parts of how your organisation will operate.
2. A recruitment contract to source staff
You may need to have a recruitment contract to establish a formal agreement between your recruiting firm and your clients, as well as how you will recruit individuals. In a recruitment contract, you will find the following:
- terms of exclusivity
- disclaimers
- non-solicitation or staff poaching
- terms of replacement
- your preferred payment conditions.
In the absence of a written agreement, the terms are open to misunderstandings and miscommunication.
An experienced lawyer will guarantee that your business is protected under the legal rights and obligations that you have. We strongly advise that the terms be drafted by a lawyer to ensure that they meet the needs of your company.
3. An employee handbook
Running a business without policies and guidelines, no matter how big or small, may be difficult.
A well-written employee handbook can be incredibly helpful in expressing your employees’ rights and responsibilities as firm employees. An employee handbook can lay down your workplace dos and don’ts as well as help you and your staff create a bond.
If you need assistance in managing employees or perhaps want small business legal advice, the Australian Fair Work Commission website is a good place to start. They may be able to provide your business with legal advice from their Workplace Advice Service.
4. Business policies and procedures
These are documents outlining how businesses conduct their day-to-day operations such as:
- plans for workplace health and safety
- dress standards or dress codes
- policies on workplace harassment
- manuals of operation
Keeping track of this type of documentation helps businesses function on a day to day basis. It can protect the company in case you are asked to respond to legal issues. It can also keep track of corporate health in general so that business choices can be made with minor errors.
Wrapping up
Having these documents in place when you establish your firm, whether it is large or a startup, a general partnership, a limited company, or a corporation, can be a tremendous advantage.
Many of the issues that young businesses encounter before they even have a footing in the market can be avoided with these examples of documentation.
