A confidentiality agreement, also known as a nondisclosure agreement or an NDA, is a secrecy agreement. This is a legal contract between two or more parties who wish to share information, access, knowledge, or material with each other. It is the promise that access to the shared information will be controlled and limited to the concerned parties only. Commonly, these agreements are drafted between parties who are working together and need to understand how each other’s gears turn. Companies who deal with sensitive personal information like law firms, hospitals, and banks also require that their employees sign an NDA. Some employment contracts include confidentiality clauses that prohibit employees from disseminating information about the company.
See these Sample Agreements for a quick guide in drafting confidentiality agreements.
Employee Confidentiality Agreement
Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement
Mutual Confidentiality Agreement Sample
Confidentiality Agreement Example
Client Confidentiality Agreement in PDF
Confidentiality Agreements in the Office
As an employee, the ability to keep confidential information in the down-low is a skill you must be able to practice. The breach of a confidentiality agreement, especially when working in a prominent company, is a serious matter and comes with serious consequences. Know, though, that confidentiality is a two-way road. The company, particularly the Human Resource Department, is also required to keep sensitive information or issues about you under wraps.
For more information on this, see these HR Confidentiality Agreements and Personal Confidentiality Agreements. You may also talk to the human resource officer of your company about your company’s confidentiality policies.
When Should a Confidentiality Agreement Be Drafted?
The corporate world is a world of eat or be eaten. The competition in it makes it absolutely necessary to take all safety precautions to make sure that a betrayal of your trust will be dealt with legal consequences. Protect your intellectual, digital, and other properties by making sure that everyone who has access to your information cannot reveal them without incurring serious risk. Draft up a confidentiality agreement when in situations like
when you are granting access to employees to sensitive files;
when information critical to your business is being shared to someone like financial and marketing plans; or
when a new idea, product, technology, or breakthrough is being presented to a potential investor, business partner, or licensing office.
Example of Confidentiality Agreement
Standard Confidentiality Agreement
Staff Confidentiality Policy Agreement
Sample Employee Confidentiality Agreement
Confidentiality and Release Agreement
Confidentiality Agreement in MS Word
What to Include in a Confidentiality Agreement
Before signing a confidentiality agreement or serving them to someone else, make sure that you have thoroughly read the entirety of the contract and understand every single point. When drafting or signing a confidentiality agreement, take note of the following:
- Names of those involved. Make sure that the complete legal names of everyone involved is in the contract. If entering into one with a company, make sure that what is written is the same name that appears in the company’s business permit.
- Specific definitions. The information that has been deemed confidential should be explicitly defined in the contract. Vagueness in the contract might have the contract tossed at court and not recognized as legal.
- Scope of the confidentiality. The extent of how secret is secret, basically.
- Exclusions. Related to the scope of confidentiality, this refers to the extent that the secret must be kept.
Having a confidentiality agreement is a handy tool in making sure that you can rest easy, even when you’re disclosing information critical to your company. For more kinds of confidentiality agreements, also see these Contractor Confidentiality Agreements.
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