Standardising employment contracts and workplace rules for a clinic chain

Background

The client is a chain of nine general and dental clinics that grew out of a single family practice. Each time a new site opened, HR copied contracts from an existing clinic and edited them case by case. After seven years the chain had around 420 staff — salaried doctors, visiting doctors, nurses, technicians and administrative employees — with 23 different contract templates in force.

Challenges

• Some doctors worked full time but were engaged under service contracts, creating a risk of disputes and back-payment of social insurance.
• Workplace rules had not been updated to current requirements and had not been fully registered for the newer clinics.
• There was no dedicated undertaking on the confidentiality of medical records and patient personal data, although the clinics had started using online booking software.
• Procedure commissions were calculated differently across clinics, causing questions among doctors.

Our approach

• Weeks 1–2 — review: read all 23 templates and a sample of 60 personnel files, and classified the actual working relationships by role, working hours and degree of dependence.
• Weeks 3–4 — drafting: six standard templates (indefinite-term, fixed-term, probation, professional collaboration, seasonal and training), a commission annex and a patient data confidentiality agreement.
• Week 5 — rules and policies: drafted workplace rules, a pay and bonus policy and a disciplinary procedure, and consulted the employee representative body.
• Weeks 6–8 — roll-out: briefing sessions at every clinic, answering doctors' questions, guiding staff through re-signing and completing registration of the workplace rules.

Results

Contract templates were reduced from 23 to six standard forms, and 100% of staff signed new contracts or annexes within six weeks. Thirty-one people were moved from service contracts to employment contracts reflecting the true nature of their work. Procedure commissions are now calculated from a single schedule, and income-related complaints fell from 17 to 2 in the following quarter. When the chain opened its tenth clinic, the HR document set was applied immediately without further drafting.

“In a clinic, an employment contract is not only an HR matter: it is tied to professional responsibility and patient confidentiality. We draft so that doctors can understand it, not just lawyers.” — Mr Vu Duc Thanh, Partner, Corporate Legal, Corvane Advisory

Lessons learned

Businesses that grow by replicating sites should standardise their documents early, before exceptions become hard to control. Classifying working relationships correctly from the outset reduces dispute risk and back-payment costs. Face-to-face briefings at each site help employees understand why things are changing and lead to faster re-signing.