Plain Language Awards

Celebrate the stories of our clearest business communicators

Finalist: Best Plain Language Legal Document 2022

The Energy Collective

Document name

Conditional Offer of Employment


Judges’ comments

Simple, elegant melding of language and visual – most importantly the language is simple and clear.

This short, visual offer document challenges preconceptions of what a contract must look like.

Consistency with the company’s playful brand and short explanations in simple language make this document short, snappy, and distinctive. The document includes a good hyperlinked info panel and an excellent opening statement about plain English.


Media statement

At The Energy Collective, our purpose is to make it better for our people, our customers, and the world around us. Plain language is one of the tools we use to achieve that.

Our employees had given us feedback that our employment documents were hard to understand, and the content didn’t align with our culture or values. After they’d been through an awesome recruitment experience, receiving letters heavy with legalese left them feeling unsure they’d made the right decision to join us.

To make the employee experience better, our design, marketing, legal, and culture and engagement teams collaborated to transform our employment documents.

We’re really proud of the final product, and excited to be selected as finalists.

Emma Petersen
Culture & Engagement Specialist
The Energy Collective