Work for Us – Or Else: The Rise of Noncompete Contracts
Some companies have taken the idea of demanding loyalty through noncompetition agreements a bit too far, writes Alan Greenblatt in Governing.
“They are forcing workers at all levels of the business to sign noncompete agreements, barring them from leaving to join another company in the same field for a specified period of years. Those contracts may be defensible for the head of research at a pharmaceutical company, or even a top-flight software engineer, but sandwich makers, yoga instructors and summer camp counselors have also been prevented from jumping to competitors,” according to Greenblatt.
He quotes Evan Starr, a management professor at the University of Maryland: “If only CEOs were signing these, I don’t think anybody would care about it.”
