Making and Varying Employment Contracts and Essential HR for Managers - Employment Law
Many employment disputes start with a line manager who changed duties, hours or pay informally, or who handled a performance or conduct issue without a fair process. This programme gives managers and HR professionals a practical understanding of how employment contracts are formed and varied, and of the core HR responsibilities that line managers carry in law.
11 - 15 October 2026
Dubai
5 Days
USD 4,500Employment contracts are often treated as a one-time document signed at recruitment. In practice the relationship keeps changing: roles grow, teams are merged, working patterns move to hybrid or shifts, and allowances are adjusted. Managers make these changes in conversations and emails without realising that they may be varying the contract, creating implied terms or setting a precedent. When a dispute follows, the organisation finds that the written contract, the policies and actual practice no longer match.
This programme follows the employment relationship from offer to exit. It covers how a contract is formed and what it contains, the sources of terms beyond the written document, how to change terms lawfully and with consent, how to harmonise terms after restructuring or a merger, and the core HR duties of the line manager in absence, performance, conduct, grievances and termination. Each topic ends with practical steps and documents managers can use.
Built on recognised practice. The programme references general principles of contract and employment law, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the ILO Termination of Employment Convention (C158) as international reference points, and the labour laws and regulations of participants' own jurisdictions, with examples from GCC and other systems. It explains principles and good practice; it is not legal advice, and specific cases should be checked with qualified legal counsel.
Decisions this programme improves. What to put in an offer letter and contract; whether a proposed change needs consent, consultation or a contractual flexibility clause; how to introduce new terms across a group of employees; when an informal conversation should become a formal process; how to document a performance or conduct issue; and when to involve HR or legal advisers.
How it is delivered. Twenty hours across five sessions, built around one running case: an organisation merging two departments with different contracts, allowances and working hours, while managing a performance issue and a grievance. Participants review contract clauses, plan and communicate a change, and run short role plays of difficult meetings.
In-house option. For organisations, the programme can be tailored to your own contract templates, HR policies and the labour law of the countries where you employ staff, and delivered jointly to line managers and HR so that both apply the same rules.
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Dubai
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