WORKING IN THE CREATIVE MEDIA SECTOR - Week 4 - Contracts
Open up a new section called 'FREELANCE CONTRACTS'
For now I simply want you to define a contract and tell me the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a Media contract for a freelance worker.
Here's what I think from experience of reading/signing many media contracts over the years. Read is and then complete your blogpost about contracts by following the numbered steps.
Info - An Employment Contract form should contain basic information about the company and the new employee, names, addresses, contact details (phone/e-mail). If it doesn’t, obviously DON’T sign it or work for that company. It should also contain a description of work required and a start date, a detailed summation of the roles and responsibilities expected of the employee which frequently is provided as a list, including who you'll be expected to work with and rules about the hours of work and location of work (as well as possibilities of relocation)
Wages: It’s obviously important to put down how much and how often your employee gets paid. Typically for freelancers that means being paid on commission: meaning you get paid based on work output, frequently to agreed deadlines. Payment can be in full or in chunks depending on agreed deadlines but is usually paid AFTER the work is completed and invoiced for. Sometimes an 'advance' may be paid if the freelance work needs funding beforehand.
Confidentiality : either covered by a separate Non-Disclosure Agreement but may be covered in the contract. Protects any intellectual property created by the company and prevents freelance employees from divulging confidential information to competitors (frequently lists consequences if they do - usually regarding pay)
Non-competition agreement: aka Non-Compete Clause : Some companies choose to include non-compete clauses in their Employment Contracts. If signed, that means that the freelancer won’t be legally allowed to work at a company that is one of the original company's direct competitors.
Social Media Rules: If a new employee is going to handle the company Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media accounts, this should be noted in the Employment Contract. This is important because it will allow the company to assert ownership over the likes, follows, and other work product that comes as a result of that social media work. Increasingly now contracts also stipulate what freelance employees are allowed to say on social media on a personal basis (not slagging off their employers or the company or degrading anything created by the company).
Types Of Contract ForMedia Workers
Fundamentally there are four types of contract Freelancers will be asked to sign, full-time, part-time, fixed-term and zero hours.
Full-time Contract.
What we're all aiming for really. A full time contract means that you'll be working the most hours and have the most protection. Any full time contract should contain
- a written statement of employment
- the statutory minimum of paid holiday
- the statutory minimum level of rest breaks
- info about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
- info about maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- info about how much leave you can take.
If employers offer you a fulltime contract it also means that they are obliged to
- make sure employees don’t work longer than the maximum allowed
- pay employees at least the minimum wage
- have employer’s liability insurance
- provide a safe and secure working environment
- consider flexible working requests
- avoid discrimination in the workplace
If you sign a full-time contract with anyone you're no longer a freelancer, although you will potentially be allowed to freelance outside of company time. What you GAIN in security, you LOSE in terms of your freedom. Signing a full-time contract means you must remain committed to that company and obey all rules regarding moonlighting for competitors.
Part-time Contract
A part-time worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time worker. There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week. Part-time freelance workers should get the same treatment as full time workers for pay rates but may not get overtime pay until they’ve worked over the normal hours of a full-time worker.
Fixed-term Contract
Employees are on a fixed-term contract if both of the following apply: they have an employment contract with the organisation they work for AND their contract ends on a particular date, or on completion of a specific task, eg a project (because of this alot of freelance media workers are on fixed-term contracts). This is a type of contract very common in the media industries. Workers may be a fixed-term employee if they're a seasonal or casual employee taken on for up to 6 months during a peak period, a specialist employee for a project, covering for maternity leave or a freelancer working on a particular project.
Workers don’t count as fixed-term employees if they have a contract with an agency rather than the company they’re working for, are a student or trainee on a work-experience placement, are working under a ‘contract of apprenticeship’ or are a member of the armed forces.
As with part-time contracts, employers must not treat workers on fixed-term contracts less favourably than permanent employees doing the same or largely the same job, unless the employer can show that there is a good business reason to do so. (This is known as ‘objective justification’ - watch out for it if you're on a fixed-term contract). Employers must ensure that fixed-term freelancers get the same pay as permanent staff, although typically freelancers will not receive the same benefits package, or protection against redundancy or dismissal. Because people on fixed term contracts, especially freelancers, are frequently not in a union, workplace disputes have to be sorted out with their manager. That's why it's a good idea if you're freelancing to investigate the union applicable to your sector and join them.
Casual/Zero-Hours Contract
Increasingly common in the workplace but not so common in the media industries. Zero-Hours contracts in the media usually apply to agency workers and some freelancers. Zero-Hours contracts don't have to be written down, give businesses flexibility because they give no guarantee to the worker of minimum working hours so the individual worker can be used as and when required, and is only paid for the hours they work. The worker will not obtain ‘employee’ status generally, and will not build up any continuity of service - consequently companies can't insist on 'exclusivity clauses' (i.e demand that the Casual worker only work for them, as they could insist were they a full-time/part-time employee) and the worker is not obliged to complete all the hours offered them.
Now you know about contracts int he media industry complete a post about contracts as follows.
1. Create a new blogpost and give it the title - 'Working In The Media Industries: Contracts'
2. Define what a contract is - including what you should expect to see on ANY contract that you are expected to sign.
3. Add headings and explanations for
Full Time Contracts
Part Time Contracts
Fixed Term Contracts
Zero-Hours Contracts
For each, tell me what kind of things you're entitled to with each type of contract, what companies are obliged to do with each type of contract + how secure workers on each contract are in terms of fair treatment, leave, sick pay etc.
For now I simply want you to define a contract and tell me the kind of thing you'd expect to see in a Media contract for a freelance worker.
Here's what I think from experience of reading/signing many media contracts over the years. Read is and then complete your blogpost about contracts by following the numbered steps.
CONTRACT DEFINITION
A contract is simply a legally binding document which spells out the terms of employment for an individual, containing both what is expected of the employee in his or her role, and what the employee can expect from their employers.
Contract Essentials
Info - An Employment Contract form should contain basic information about the company and the new employee, names, addresses, contact details (phone/e-mail). If it doesn’t, obviously DON’T sign it or work for that company. It should also contain a description of work required and a start date, a detailed summation of the roles and responsibilities expected of the employee which frequently is provided as a list, including who you'll be expected to work with and rules about the hours of work and location of work (as well as possibilities of relocation)
Wages: It’s obviously important to put down how much and how often your employee gets paid. Typically for freelancers that means being paid on commission: meaning you get paid based on work output, frequently to agreed deadlines. Payment can be in full or in chunks depending on agreed deadlines but is usually paid AFTER the work is completed and invoiced for. Sometimes an 'advance' may be paid if the freelance work needs funding beforehand.
Confidentiality : either covered by a separate Non-Disclosure Agreement but may be covered in the contract. Protects any intellectual property created by the company and prevents freelance employees from divulging confidential information to competitors (frequently lists consequences if they do - usually regarding pay)
Non-competition agreement: aka Non-Compete Clause : Some companies choose to include non-compete clauses in their Employment Contracts. If signed, that means that the freelancer won’t be legally allowed to work at a company that is one of the original company's direct competitors.
Social Media Rules: If a new employee is going to handle the company Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media accounts, this should be noted in the Employment Contract. This is important because it will allow the company to assert ownership over the likes, follows, and other work product that comes as a result of that social media work. Increasingly now contracts also stipulate what freelance employees are allowed to say on social media on a personal basis (not slagging off their employers or the company or degrading anything created by the company).
Fundamentally there are four types of contract Freelancers will be asked to sign, full-time, part-time, fixed-term and zero hours.
Full-time Contract.
What we're all aiming for really. A full time contract means that you'll be working the most hours and have the most protection. Any full time contract should contain
- a written statement of employment
- the statutory minimum of paid holiday
- the statutory minimum level of rest breaks
- info about Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
- info about maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- info about how much leave you can take.
If employers offer you a fulltime contract it also means that they are obliged to
- make sure employees don’t work longer than the maximum allowed
- pay employees at least the minimum wage
- have employer’s liability insurance
- provide a safe and secure working environment
- consider flexible working requests
- avoid discrimination in the workplace
If you sign a full-time contract with anyone you're no longer a freelancer, although you will potentially be allowed to freelance outside of company time. What you GAIN in security, you LOSE in terms of your freedom. Signing a full-time contract means you must remain committed to that company and obey all rules regarding moonlighting for competitors.
Part-time Contract
A part-time worker is someone who works fewer hours than a full-time worker. There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week. Part-time freelance workers should get the same treatment as full time workers for pay rates but may not get overtime pay until they’ve worked over the normal hours of a full-time worker.
Fixed-term Contract
Employees are on a fixed-term contract if both of the following apply: they have an employment contract with the organisation they work for AND their contract ends on a particular date, or on completion of a specific task, eg a project (because of this alot of freelance media workers are on fixed-term contracts). This is a type of contract very common in the media industries. Workers may be a fixed-term employee if they're a seasonal or casual employee taken on for up to 6 months during a peak period, a specialist employee for a project, covering for maternity leave or a freelancer working on a particular project.
Workers don’t count as fixed-term employees if they have a contract with an agency rather than the company they’re working for, are a student or trainee on a work-experience placement, are working under a ‘contract of apprenticeship’ or are a member of the armed forces.
As with part-time contracts, employers must not treat workers on fixed-term contracts less favourably than permanent employees doing the same or largely the same job, unless the employer can show that there is a good business reason to do so. (This is known as ‘objective justification’ - watch out for it if you're on a fixed-term contract). Employers must ensure that fixed-term freelancers get the same pay as permanent staff, although typically freelancers will not receive the same benefits package, or protection against redundancy or dismissal. Because people on fixed term contracts, especially freelancers, are frequently not in a union, workplace disputes have to be sorted out with their manager. That's why it's a good idea if you're freelancing to investigate the union applicable to your sector and join them.
Casual/Zero-Hours Contract
Increasingly common in the workplace but not so common in the media industries. Zero-Hours contracts in the media usually apply to agency workers and some freelancers. Zero-Hours contracts don't have to be written down, give businesses flexibility because they give no guarantee to the worker of minimum working hours so the individual worker can be used as and when required, and is only paid for the hours they work. The worker will not obtain ‘employee’ status generally, and will not build up any continuity of service - consequently companies can't insist on 'exclusivity clauses' (i.e demand that the Casual worker only work for them, as they could insist were they a full-time/part-time employee) and the worker is not obliged to complete all the hours offered them.
Now you know about contracts int he media industry complete a post about contracts as follows.
1. Create a new blogpost and give it the title - 'Working In The Media Industries: Contracts'
2. Define what a contract is - including what you should expect to see on ANY contract that you are expected to sign.
3. Add headings and explanations for
Full Time Contracts
Part Time Contracts
Fixed Term Contracts
Zero-Hours Contracts
For each, tell me what kind of things you're entitled to with each type of contract, what companies are obliged to do with each type of contract + how secure workers on each contract are in terms of fair treatment, leave, sick pay etc.
WHAT YOU SHOULD END UP WITH - A breakdown (bulletpointed if needs be) of what a contract is, what it should contain and the different types of contracts you can expect to find in the media industries.
Useful links:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/contract-working-hours
https://www.crunch.co.uk/blog/small-business-advice/2013/01/16/what-are-zero-hours-contracts
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