Hiring employees is a fairly straightforward.

The advantages of an employment contract can help you attract and retain key employees. While you can’t force employees to stay, a contract can ensure that they’ll provide reasonable notice prior to departure.

Employment contracts also help protect critical trade secrets, and are especially critical in high-tech companies. An employment contract can prohibit employees from revealing company secrets, working for the competition or soliciting customers. You can’t prohibit employees from ever working for a competing business anywhere in the country, but you might be able to enforce an agreement that they not work for a competing business within a 30-mile radius of your company for two years, or that they not solicit your company’s customers for a year.

Employment contracts are also useful when you’re buying or selling a business to make sure key people don’t leave.

Contracts also clarify individual jobs by spelling out employees’ responsibilities, compensation, bonuses, stock options, rights to any inventions and patents, expense accounts and more.

If you draft an employment contract, pay special attention to the termination section. You might want a clause denying certain benefits if you terminate for cause–such as committing a felony or acting in a way that’s clearly harmful.