Robert de Rooy: “Plain language empowers people.”

Watch the interview here, or keep reading. 

 

One of the biggest changes that Robert sees when employers start using easy-to-understand comic contracts is better buy-in from their employees. 

 

“Understandably, people do not feel morally bound by a contract that they sign without understanding it. On the other hand, if someone really understands what they are being asked to do, they are far more willing to abide by an agreement,” he says. 

According to Robert, this commitment often goes beyond an individual to affect the relationship between a group of employees and their employer. 

“An example of this happened when we were working with a group of fruit pickers. We found that previously when workers were not meeting the requirements of the agreement and underwent disciplinary action, it often led to a general sense of unhappiness amongst workers. When we started using comic contracts, the workers truly understood what was being asked of them so there was far less sympathy for the odd individual who didn’t fulfil the requirements that had been agreed to.” 

Overall, Robert also believes that creating an agreement that is not only legally binding but also easy to understand and nice to look at makes a big difference in how employees feel. 

“Employers who are willing to spend the time and money on creating a comic contract are showing their employees that they matter.” 

The origin story of comic contracts 

Robert de Rooy and his team at Creative Contracts stopped counting how many comic contracts they sold when they reached 20 000. But the idea of creating a comic contract started with a question. 

“As a lawyer, I was confronted every day with contracts that were hard to understand,” Robert explains. “I started to wonder, what makes for a good agreement?” 

Robert’s question first led him to pro-active contracting, using visual tools and plain language. “At that time, even the pioneers in the field used pictures in contracts as an add-on – never the binding part of a contract. I thought, hang on, could we make an entirely visual contract to avoid people who can’t read well being bound to an agreement they don’t understand?” 

Robert spent the next three years working with comic artists to portray a contract entirely visually. Three years later, he finally held the first comic contract in his hand. 

How kind contracts support people’s dignity 

“By using plain language or visual contracts, people who struggle to read can have access to the information they need,” Robert says. 

In his experience, this not only means that people understand agreements but also that they feel they have more agency. “They understand what they are bound by when agreeing to a contract, so they can make autonomous decisions and don’t have to rely on other people,” he says. 

“It’s about us as a society using the resources we already have to support people who have low literacy levels. Why wouldn’t we do that if it means we can empower people? After all, if you don’t understand your rights, you can’t access them.”