Employers must issue written key employment terms to employees covered by the Employment Act who will be continuously employed for at least 14 days. The terms should be provided within 14 days after the employee starts work. A signed contract can contain them, but an offer letter that omits salary periods, working arrangements or leave details is not complete merely because both sides signed it.
This guide is for a singapore sme owner or hr administrator hiring an employee. It resolves one practical task: issue complete written key employment terms to covered staff within the statutory period. It is desk-reported from the two cited primary sources and does not claim a field visit or professional advice.
Use this decision table first
| Fact pattern | Practical result |
|---|---|
| Employee will work fewer than 14 continuous days | KET duty may not be triggered by this rule |
| Employee reaches 14 days or more | Issue written KETs within 14 days of starting |
| Term applies to everyone | May be placed in a handbook or intranet if accessible |
| Term is employee-specific | Put it in the individual contract or annex |
| Hours or salary later change | Document and communicate the revised term |
Coverage depends on employment, not seniority
Do not limit the process to managers or permanent office staff. Test whether the person is an employee covered by the Employment Act and will be continuously employed for at least 14 days. Part-time and fixed-term arrangements can still require written terms. The controlling reference is MOM key employment terms.
The 14-day clock begins at work
MOM’s rule is to provide KETs within 14 days after employment starts. Completing the document before day one is cleaner, but onboarding pressure is not a reason to drift beyond the period. Put an owner and due date in the hiring checklist.
Use the 18-item list as a completeness test
The published list covers identity, job title and duties, start date, duration for fixed terms, working arrangements, salary period and components, overtime, leave, medical benefits, probation and notice. Mark each item as applicable, not applicable or located in a referenced policy.
Separate common and individual terms
A common leave policy can sit in a handbook if employees can access it. Salary, job duties, work location or probation usually need an individual record. Cross-references should name the document and version so the employee knows which rule forms part of the package. Cross-check the operational detail against Employment (Employment Records, Key Employment Terms and Pay Slips) Regulations.
Draft variable pay carefully
State whether an allowance, commission or bonus is contractual, discretionary or conditional, and define the measurement and payment period. Vague labels invite different expectations. The KET record should not promise a payment the policy intends to leave discretionary.
Maintain a change record
A promotion, revised schedule or salary adjustment can make the onboarding terms stale. Issue a letter or electronic amendment, keep employee acknowledgement and retain the earlier version. The goal is a traceable current record, not a contract frozen on the first day.
A worked decision
An SME hires a part-time operations assistant on 1 August for six months. Because employment will continue beyond 14 days, the KET process applies. The company should issue the individual salary, hours, duties and notice terms by 15 August at the latest, while linking to an accessible handbook for company-wide leave and medical provisions.
Complete these checks in order
- Confirm employee coverage and expected continuous service.
- Set the 14-day deadline from the start date.
- Map every MOM item to the contract, annex or accessible policy.
- Resolve missing salary, overtime, leave and notice details.
- Give the employee a durable written or electronic copy.
- Record acknowledgement and retain the version.
- Issue written amendments when material terms change.
For adjacent company administration, use our ACRA annual-return deadline guide and GST InvoiceNow implementation guide. Those pages answer distinct downstream questions and do not replace the authority rules cited here.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Using job seniority as the coverage test
- Counting 14 days from contract signature instead of start
- Treating a generic offer letter as complete
- Referencing a handbook the employee cannot access
- Changing hours or pay only through an informal chat
Keep a dated file containing the source pages, submitted forms, approvals, signed agreement and calculations. Rules, service interfaces and temporary concessions can change. Recheck the authority page immediately before acting, especially when the transaction will occur after a published end date or involves an unusual use, payment or occupier.
Make the decision easy to revisit
Before acting, write down the date, the fact that determines the outcome and the source page used. For this question, the decision is whether to issue complete written key employment terms to covered staff within the statutory period. The two practical tools above—a document-location matrix separating common handbook terms from employee-specific terms and a dated six-month part-time hire example applying the 14-day rule—are intended to make that reasoning visible. Save the result with receipts, confirmations or screenshots generated by the official service. If a deadline, amount, status, traveller, employee, property or health circumstance changes, rerun the decision from the beginning instead of editing the old answer from memory. Where a professional adviser, agency officer or service provider gives a different answer, ask which current rule and which facts produce the difference. That short record is valuable when two family members, colleagues or counterparties otherwise remember the same conversation differently.
Questions readers ask
Must KETs be a separate document?
No. They can be incorporated into a contract or split between individual and common documents if complete and accessible.
Do part-time employees qualify?
They can. Apply the Employment Act coverage and 14-day continuous-employment tests.
How many items does MOM list?
MOM’s current checklist contains 18 categories, with some items applicable only where relevant.
Primary references and limits
MOM key employment terms and Employment (Employment Records, Key Employment Terms and Pay Slips) Regulations were checked on 17 July 2026. The article applies their published general rules to the examples above. It does not determine an individual application, resolve a contractual dispute or replace legal, tax or regulated advice.
