Staff handbook for a marketing agency

An agency's staff hold its clients' secrets, create the work the agency sells, speak for clients on social media, and are taken to lunch by the suppliers they instruct. The handbook has to set the rules on confidentiality and conflicts between accounts, record who owns the work and what staff may show, govern social media and personal accounts, deal with hospitality and gifts, and manage the hours and the pitch culture in a way that keeps a young workforce. I draft that handbook for the agency for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Marketing, advertising, creative, PR, digital, social media and design agencies in England and Wales employing account, creative, strategy and production staff.

What matters in an agency handbook

Client work, confidentiality and conflicts between accounts

The handbook should set the confidentiality rules for client information (campaigns, launches, results, pricing, the client's own confidential information held under the agency's contracts), the information barriers where the agency works for competing clients, the conflict declaration process for staff with interests in clients or competitors, the rules on discussing client work outside the team and at industry events, and the obligation to comply with the confidentiality terms in each client contract; an agency that leaks a launch has lost the client, and the handbook is where staff are told what the client contract requires of them.

Intellectual property, portfolios and credits

The handbook should state that work created in the course of employment belongs to the agency under section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is assigned to clients as the contracts provide, that moral rights are waived under the contracts, what staff may show in portfolios and when (after public release, with client confidentiality respected, with names as the agency permits), how credits are given on awards entries and in the press, and the rules on third-party fonts, stock and software licences in client work; portfolio rights are what creative staff ask about first, and the policy should grant a limited licence rather than leave the practice to argument.

Social media, personal accounts and speaking for clients

The handbook should set the rules for staff who operate client and agency accounts (credentials held by the agency, approval processes, no personal posting from client accounts), for staff personal accounts (no disclosure of client work, no comment on clients or competitors, disclosure of the connection where staff promote clients' products under the advertising codes), and for influencers and creators the agency engages (the disclosure rules the Advertising Standards Authority and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 require), with the data protection obligations under the UK GDPR for campaign data; a junior who posts a client's unreleased campaign from their own account is the incident the policy exists to prevent.

Hospitality, gifts and the suppliers who court agency staff

The handbook should contain a gifts and hospitality policy within the Bribery Act 2010 (a register, limits, approval for anything above them, no acceptance during a pitch or a tender, no cash), rules on relationships with media owners, production companies and platforms, the declaration of personal relationships with suppliers and clients, and the policy on side work and freelance clients (disclosure and consent, never for the agency's clients or competitors); agency staff are courted by the suppliers they instruct, and the policy is the agency's defence.

Hours, pitches and the time off in lieu that keeps people

The handbook should set the hours and the hybrid pattern, the expectations around pitches, launches and events with time off in lieu stated and tracked, rest breaks and the forty-eight hour limit under the Working Time Regulations 1998 with any opt-out signed separately and never required, the wellbeing support the agency provides, and the policy on availability outside hours; agencies lose staff to burnout and the handbook that says long hours are rewarded with time off is the one that keeps them, provided the agency applies it.

The core policies for a young workforce

The handbook should contain the core policies (disciplinary and grievance under the Acas Code, equal opportunities and the duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 including at industry events and by clients, sickness absence, holiday, flexible working under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the family leave policies with the Employment Rights Act 2025 day-one changes on the timetable the regulations set, expenses, IT and bring your own device, data protection, drugs and alcohol at events, health and safety under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for an office and for shoots and events), written in the agency's voice, non-contractual and acknowledged on issue.

What it costs

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can our staff put client work in their portfolios?

Under a limited licence the handbook grants: after public release, with confidentiality respected and names as the agency permits. Without a policy the practice is unregulated and clients object.

A supplier wants to take our media team to a festival. Is that allowed?

What the gifts and hospitality policy says: declared in the register, within limits or approved above them, never during a tender. The policy is the agency's Bribery Act defence.

Can we require staff to work late for pitches?

The handbook can set the expectation with time off in lieu tracked and the working time limits observed, and the opt-out signed freely. An expectation without the compensating time is how agencies lose staff.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £995, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Employment contract for a marketing executive

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.