Sign an employment contract online

Employment contract vs. offer letter

An offer letter and an employment contract serve different purposes. An offer letter is usually a short summary of the headline terms — title, salary, start date — extended to confirm the company wants to hire you. An employment contract is a fuller legal agreement that governs the working relationship in detail and is meant to be enforceable on both sides.

In many cases you receive both: an offer letter first, then a formal employment agreement to sign before or on your start date. Where an offer letter might be a page, an employment contract can run several pages and include obligations — confidentiality, intellectual property assignment, non-competition — that continue after the job ends. Treat it with more care than a simple acceptance.

Clauses to read before you sign

Read the whole document, but pay particular attention to:

• >Compensation — base pay, bonus structure, commission, equity, and exactly when and how each is earned and paid.
• >Job duties and reporting line — what you are agreeing to do and to whom you report.
• >Term and termination — whether the role is at-will or for a fixed term, notice periods, and grounds for termination with or without cause.
• >Probationary period — many contracts include an initial period with different terms or easier termination.
• >Confidentiality — your obligations to protect company information, often surviving the end of employment.
• >Intellectual property assignment — whether work you create belongs to the employer, and how broadly that is defined.
• >Restrictive covenants — non-compete and non-solicitation clauses that limit what you can do after you leave.
• >Benefits, paid time off, and any conditions or waiting periods attached to them.

At-will employment and what a contract changes

Most US employment is at-will, meaning either party can end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason. An employment contract can modify that default — for example by specifying a fixed term, requiring notice, or limiting termination to "for cause" situations. Read the termination section closely to understand whether your contract preserves at-will status or replaces it with something more specific.

If the contract is explicitly at-will, signing it generally does not give you guaranteed job security, even though it sets out detailed terms. If it specifies a term or a notice period, those provisions are meaningful and worth understanding before you sign.

Start date, conditions, and contingencies

Confirm the start date and any conditions attached to your employment. Many contracts are contingent on a background check, reference verification, proof of work authorization (such as an I-9 in the US), or signing additional documents like a confidentiality or IP agreement. Understand what must happen before your employment is firm.

If the contract references other documents — an employee handbook, a separate confidentiality agreement, a stock plan — ask to see them before signing. Contracts often incorporate those documents by reference, which means you are agreeing to terms you have not read unless you request them.

Restrictive covenants: non-compete, non-solicit, and IP

Restrictive covenants are the clauses most likely to affect you after the job ends. A non-compete limits your ability to work for competitors or start a competing business for a period after you leave. A non-solicitation clause restricts you from recruiting former colleagues or approaching clients. An intellectual property assignment determines who owns what you create.

Enforceability of non-competes varies dramatically by jurisdiction — some US states (such as California) generally do not enforce them, while others enforce reasonable ones. Because these clauses are generally binding once you sign, the time to question or negotiate their scope and duration is before you sign, not after.

When and to whom to ask questions before signing

If anything in the contract is unclear or differs from what you discussed, raise it before signing — with the recruiter, the hiring manager, or HR. Most employers expect candidates to read carefully and ask questions, and a polite request for clarification or a corrected term rarely jeopardizes an offer.

For high-stakes terms — a significant non-compete, an equity arrangement, an executive agreement, or anything you do not understand — consider having an employment attorney review the contract before you sign. The cost of a review is small compared with being bound by terms you did not fully grasp. This page provides general information, not legal advice.

Is an electronically signed employment contract valid?

Yes. Employment agreements are routinely signed electronically and are fully recognized under the US ESIGN Act and UETA, with the EU eIDAS regulation providing the equivalent in Europe. An electronically signed employment contract carries the same legal weight as a handwritten signature on paper.

The elements that make a signature binding — your intent to sign, your consent to transact electronically, and attribution of the signature to you — are all present when you sign a PDF and return it. Courts treat e-signed employment contracts the same as paper ones for enforcement.

Privacy of your signed employment contract

An employment contract contains your salary, equity, and personal terms — information you may not want sitting on a third-party signing platform. Because DocSignHub processes the document only in your browser, none of it is uploaded. The signed copy goes directly from you to your employer.

Keep your own copy of the fully signed contract. It is the reference document if a question ever arises about compensation, duties, or your obligations, and you should not rely on the employer being your only source for it.