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During contract negotiations I discussed benefits with my employer, and they promised to give me:
I want to make sure that these are kept, but I understand they are difficult to write in to the contract, but I want to make sure that these promises are kept.
How can I ensure that verbal agreements aren't forgotten if they aren't written in to the contract?
I assume, that these verbal promises are not really enforceable. Can I make them enforceable by asking the company to put them into the contract? How could a possible wording could look like?
Your assumption is mostly correct. Verbal agreements can be legally binding [I AM NOT A LAWYER, BUT I DO WATCH JUDGE JUDY OCCASIONALLY]. But such agreements are very, very difficult to prove [from personal experience] and thus to enforce.
Anything written into a contract can be binding and thus "enforceable".
The wording could be as simple as
Since the phrases "all the tools needed" (who gets to determine what is "needed"? can you demand 3000 expensive tools?) and "paid travel of your choosing" (paid for what? car fare? first-class airline ticket? can you go to 100 conferences?) are very ambiguous, you would be smart to enlist the aid of a lawyer in crafting easier-to-enforce wording here.
While it's always possible to negotiate anything into a contract, I'd be shocked if any real company would actually agree to such open-ended terms.
I suspect you'd have better luck either just expecting reasonableness (and thus not writing it into the contract at all), the "local standard" (as Bill Leeper indicated in his answer), or negotiating a specific list of tools, a specific list of conferences, and the amounts you would expect the company to pay. Again, no assurances that the company would agree, but I suspect you'd have a better chance that way.
I know in my department I'm often willing to grant exceptions on an informal basis. I want to help my good team members in any way I can, but I don't want to formalize such exceptions, since they might then be expected by others.
No one has mentioned this yet, and it seems rather obvious but is worth saying.
Make sure they get written down somewhere. You may not be able to capture them in a contract and get them "enforced" (see Joe's answer).
But having them written down somewhere with your hiring manager agreeing to them is considerably better than "we talked about these during the interview, what gives now!" if/when you end up needing to bring them up in the future. Even a simple email confirmation can accomplish this.
Most people generally don't like to go back on their word if they've committed to something which is documented. It's a lot easier to change things which were vaguely discussed verbally, but saying "actually I can't offer what I did confirm via email and you just forwarded me" has a lot more emotional resistance to most people in saying "no."
It may not guarantee anything but can at least help your manager be more motivated to keep those unofficial commitments.
There is no point in trying to make these legally enforceable. There are two reasons for this.
What I do recommend is that you 1) specify the tools that yhou think you need for the job and 2) get something in writing saying that they intend to provide this and the conference visits. It won't be enforceable but it will give you some ammunition if they just arbitrarily decide not to do either.
It is probably too late for you to do this, but it might be helpful for others.
If these statements are brought up during the interviewing process, try and find out more details from the individual contributors you may be interviewed by during the day. Ask specifically what kind of tools they are provided with, what kind of computers, etc. As for the conference promise, try and determine what conferences people have been too. Just ask. What conferences did people go to, or if talking with an individual contributor ask them what conferences they have been to recently.
Can I make them enforceable by asking the company to put them into the contract?
Yes.
But the better question might be whether or not this is preferable.
How could a possible wording could look like?
This is probably out of scope for this site. A lawyer is probably the best person to go to for this answer.
Get it in writing. You can ask them to email you the notes you discussed as proof, or you can write the notes yourself and have them sign.
However, they may still decide to not follow though on their promises. At this point you would know they work in bad faith, and you would look for a new job. Essentially the contract is broken.
Negotiations/promises prior to a contract whether written in a contract or not CAN be enforced it just depends on the state you live in. As far as writing it into the contract, I would put in an addendum as the last page of the contract stating what promises were made from the hiring manager/company. But I would also be a heck of a lot more specific when stating the promises. Saying "all the tools I need" is way to general and is up for individual interpretation. So it would be better to state something like, "Company will allow employee to attend and pay for all relevant conferences, pay employee X amount in travel expenses, give employee all updated software as it is released relevant to their specific job etc, etc. If somewhere down the road you find that some "tool" you needed you neglected to name specifically in the contract, then you will have to just forget about it.
Keep minutes of the meeting (from memory in your case). Have them signed off by you future employer and keep a copy.
At least where I live verbal promises are part of the contract (unless the contract specifially says that things are valid only when written down). If your employer ignores his promises on purpose your relationship has probably detoriated to a point where you should rather leave (or will be fired) in any case, insofar "enforceable" is a relative term, but keeping minutes will at least make sure that stuff is not accidentally forgotten. And minutes allow both parties to be less definite/more verbose than the actual contract while still conveying the general scope of your agreements.
