Employment Agreement for Agencies
Hire creative and account talent the right way.
An employment agreement built for agencies — clear role, compensation, IP assignment, confidentiality, and non-solicit clauses sized for creative and account work.
Free to start — No credit card required
Agencies live and die by their talent — and by what happens when that talent leaves. Without strong employment agreements, departing creatives can take client lists, take ongoing projects, or claim ownership of work they helped produce. This template addresses each of those failure modes specifically.
Why agencies need a employment agreement
- Full IP assignment ensures the agency owns all client work product and methodology contributions.
- Non-solicit (clients and team) for a defined post-departure period protects the agency's business.
- Confidentiality survival period covers client information after the employee leaves.
- Clear role, hours, and overtime classification prevents wage-and-hour disputes.
Common scenarios
Creative team hires (designers, copywriters, strategists)
Standard employment with full IP assignment for client work and any internal IP they help develop.
Account team hires
Same template plus stronger non-solicit clauses on clients they directly support — protects against client poaching post-departure.
Senior creative or director hires
Adds longer non-solicit period, severance terms, and explicit confidentiality on agency operations and pricing.
Clauses to pay attention to
Common questions
- Are non-solicit clauses enforceable for agency staff?
- Generally yes, more so than non-competes. Courts tend to enforce reasonable non-solicit clauses (typically 12 months post-departure, limited to clients the employee directly worked with) because they protect a legitimate business interest without preventing the employee from working in the industry. Specifics vary by jurisdiction.
- What about freelancers we use frequently?
- Freelancers should be on contractor agreements, not employment agreements. The IP assignment and confidentiality language can be similar, but the relationship structure (1099 vs. W-2) is fundamentally different. See the contractor agreement template for the right structure.
- How do we handle creative work the employee did before joining?
- The employment agreement should explicitly carve out pre-existing IP — work the employee created before their start date. Standard pattern: full assignment of work created during employment plus an attached schedule listing pre-existing IP that's excluded.
Ready to create your employment agreement?
Generate a employment agreement tailored for agencies — jurisdiction-aware, fully editable, and ready in minutes.
Free to start — No credit card required