1. Confirm who employs the person
Before issuing the contract, map the employing entity, the entity paying wages and making social insurance contributions, and the managers directing the work. An overseas parent, its China subsidiary and a staffing provider are different parties. The company name on the letterhead should not be chosen merely because it is the group’s best-known brand.
Article 2 of the Labor Contract Law defines the law’s employer-side scope. If the proposed arrangement does not involve an established China employing entity, determine the legal structure before using a standard employment template. This checklist assumes a mainland China employer and ordinary full-time employment; it does not establish that an overseas company or a representative office may directly hire under any proposed arrangement.
2. Separate the offer date, signing date and first working day
Article 7 ties the employment relationship to the first day of work. Article 10 requires a written contract and, where work has already started without one, provides a one-month period for signing. Operationally, arrange execution and the employee’s copy before work begins. Put an owner and a deadline against any missing signature rather than leaving the matter with an overseas approval queue.
Missing the written-contract requirement can create additional wage exposure under Article 82. Articles 6 and 7 of the 2025 SPC Interpretation (II) address the calculation and specified exceptions. An employee’s delay in returning a document should therefore be investigated and recorded, not treated as an automatic exemption or a reason to backdate the contract.
3. Reconcile the core terms with the proposed role
Article 17 lists required terms including the parties, contract duration, work content and location, working time and leave, remuneration, social insurance, and working conditions and protections. Review these against the offer, job description, compensation plan and local payroll setup. A discrepancy between the documents often becomes important only when a bonus, transfer or termination is disputed.
Distinguish guaranteed pay from genuinely conditional incentives. Identify who sets targets, when they are communicated, what evidence records achievement and how any plan amendment works. Avoid promising a fixed amount in the contract while describing the same amount as entirely discretionary in an English group policy.
4. Review the optional clauses independently
Probation must fit Article 19 rather than the group’s standard global period. Confidentiality, non-compete and training-service provisions also have distinct legal limits. Article 25 restricts employee penalties outside the situations specified in Articles 22 and 23. A general promise to pay a penalty for leaving early should not simply be imported from another jurisdiction.
For a bilingual document, compare the two texts clause by clause: employer name, amounts, dates, location, notice and discretion are especially important. A language-priority clause helps interpretation but does not cure conflicting terms or displace mandatory mainland China rules.
5. Assemble one onboarding file
Keep the final signed contract and proof that the employee received a copy, the accepted offer, job description, hiring conditions, relevant policy version and acknowledgment, and the payroll and contribution setup. Article 16 requires both parties to hold a contract copy. Store approved versions in a way that the China HR team can retrieve when a decision must be made.
Before seeking legal review, send a non-confidential summary of the employing entity, city, role, start date and proposed compensation structure. The useful legal question is whether the documents and the actual arrangement work together—not merely whether every blank in a template has been filled.
Legal sources
Official sources · Checked 2026-09-20. English explanations are summaries, not official translations.
- PRC Labor Contract Law (2012 amendment) ↗
Articles 2, 7, 10, 16–19, 22–25 and 82.
- SPC Interpretation (II) on Labor Disputes, Fa Shi [2025] No. 12 ↗
Articles 6 and 7; effective 1 September 2025.
General information about mainland China. The facts, applicable dates and local rules require individual review.
Partner, Beijing ChangAn Law Firm
China-qualified since 2019 · Beijing & Shenzhen
Review your China onboarding documents
Discuss the employing entity, role, city and intended start date. Contract and policy review can then be scoped around the actual hiring arrangement.
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