Create a contract

Shyfter lets you generate an employee's contract, pre-fill it with their data and send it for signature, all in one place. Go to Documents → Contracts, then click Create a contract.

What to base the contract on

You have three starting points:

• From a contract template: the fastest. The contract takes the layout and fields of the template, and is pre-filled with the employee's information.
• By uploading a one-off file: via Upload a contract (pdf, word, xls, ...), for a single contract you have no template for. You can then place fields on it (name, date, signature...) as on a template.
• As a text template (HTML): written directly in Shyfter, with variables.

Complete the contract data

The form gathers the contractual information: contract type, role and job function, dates (hire, seniority, start of career), contract hours and days per week, salary amount and period, cost centre, etc. Depending on your country and your modules, some additional fields appear.

If default values exist for this contract, Shyfter offers to apply them ("Default values are available for this contract. Do you want to apply them?"), which saves re-entering everything.

You can also enable an automatic renewal: the contract will be recreated according to a recurrence and a period you define (for example every week, Monday to Sunday).

Place the fields to complete

As with templates, if you start from an uploaded file, you can use the field editor to place the fields to fill in and the signature area. The Create the contract and place the fields button chains the creation and the opening of the editor. Fields linked to variables (name, salary, dates...) are pre-filled automatically.

Automatic or manual validation

This is a key point when saving:

• Manual validation (default behaviour): the created contract stays pending. You must approve it before it is sent to the employee for signature. This leaves time for a review.
• Automatic validation: if the Automatically approve documents and contracts option is enabled (in Settings ⚙️ → Documents → Settings), saving a new contract directly triggers its sending to the employee. Handy for going fast, to be reserved for well-established processes.

The sending behaviour therefore depends on your Documents settings. Check them if you want a human review to always precede the send.

Actions on a contract

From the contract list, each contract can be edited, duplicated, downloaded, resent (for example if the employee didn't receive the first request) or deleted. A filter lets you display active, inactive or all contracts.

If you use Dimona, deleting a linked contract may require managing the associated Dimona separately: Shyfter warns you at the time of deletion.

Signature

Once sent, the contract appears to the employee on their Shyfter Staff mobile app, where they sign it. The signing process and its legal value are described in the article dedicated to signing on the mobile app.