I'm talking about the US not the UK. In the US employee handbook type stuff is not in any contracts just so they can change it without notice, as that's typical

I'm talking about the US not the UK. In the US employee handbook type stuff is not in any contracts just so they can change it without notice, as that's typical in the US, from my experience. That's why I asked what people are talking about when they sign "employment contracts" in the US as I, personally, have never heard of a private non-union employer having any sort of actual employment contract other than "we can fire you at any time and you can quit at any time." And of course, NDAs. That way they leave the door open to changing the terms at any time. A US employee is typically not going to, in my experience, give up the "at will" status, and by having a contract they do give up that power. Unless they write something like "we can void this contract at will."