Hi, my name is Alex Granovsky and I’m the Managing Member of Granovsky & Sundaresh. We are an employment law firm based right here in New York City.
We have a ton of people who call and ask us to help them negotiate or work on the terms of their employment agreement. We have a ton of experience with it. In this video we’re going to go over the four biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to negotiating an employment agreement or contract.
Mistake number one is pretty obvious – not negotiating. This is your first and best and greatest opportunity to negotiate over the terms and conditions of employment. If you don’t take advantage of the opportunity, you are really doing yourself a disservice. Even if you don’t have a plan or even if you don’t hire a lawyer or don’t do a good job, just try. If you get something, it’s a win.
Number two, you have to understand the details. People who don’t understand the details of their agreement can make big mistakes. Some bonuses could be subject to a callback. So sometimes whether you receive a bonus or not depends on when you give notice There are considerations about non-compete and non-solicit that get kind of granular. You have to understand those. So failing to understand those details is a big mistake that a lot of people make. They focus on the salary or the gross amount of the bonus, but they don’t see all the strings attached.
The third biggest mistake is relying on verbal promises. Never rely on a verbal promise. Any agreement worth its salt has a has a paragraph in there that says only rely on the written word. Anything anyone tells you doesn’t matter. Look, it’s not illegal to lie. People could change their minds. Or, the very well-meaning person who made this promise to you could no longer be employed when it comes down to mattering. So don’t rely on the verbal promises. Get it down on the written page.
The fourth biggest mistake that people make is not hiring a professional. Get a lawyer to understand the details to explain to you what you do and don’t need in your agreement. They can explain to you what sorts of things are less likely to be problems down the road. Hire a professional. When you don’t, that’s the fourth biggest mistake people make.
I hope this video helped. Like I said, we are a New York City employment law firm. If you need any help, feel free to reach out. Thanks for watching. Take care.