Re-Negotiating Employee Contracts: Issues of Content, Context and Process

Abstract

This paper is approached from a practical perspective with references given in relevant parts. The objective of this paper is to examine how unfavourable employee contracts in particular and other business contracts in general are renegotiated. The approach adopted here in the paper is both theoretical and practical because of the nature of the topic which is based on a short case study that requires a practical and common sense approach as well as providing an opportunity for probing and plumbing the depths of its theoretical underpinnings. The authors reflected on the theories linked to the topic of negotiation in order to provide deeper insights. Therefore this paper is a review paper that did not require the methodology of collecting primary data from field research. The methodology adopted was part narrative, and part analytical reflection of both praxis and theory pertaining to human resource practices. Therefore the Literature Review part was extended to cover wider field. The paper shares knowledge on re-negotiating employee contracts from the management rather than the legal point of view. The second objective of this paper is to share knowledge and excite readers for them to react by reflecting on their own experiences. The findings of this paper are to be gleaned from the numerous discussions, reviews, examples, and analysis provided from a multidisciplinary point of departure. The paper findings revealed that despite legal contracts being signed as non-negotiable legal instruments, practical imperatives of changing business fortunes and circumstances call for revisiting contracts in order to address any extenuating circumstances. The paper concluded that contracts are not cast in iron or stone and those employees and their representatives can go back to the negotiating table with their employers to re-engage over conditions of service to their mutual benefit in a win-win situation.