The job market can be a playground for highly qualified workers, but there are some rules to consider when hiring employees away from a competitor. Julie Brook, writing in Continuing Education of the Bar of California’s blog, says it’s a situation that “can create serious issues around trade secrets and unfair competition.”
To avoid calling in the hall monitor—or counsel—Brook suggests following these guidelines when bringing on a new employee:
- Customer Lists: Tell employees not to take client lists or contact information from their previous employer. Instead, get them to develop their own immediately on arrival at your workplace, using public documents and the company database. When previous customers or clients do contact the employee, ask them to put any requests to transfer their business in writing.
- Announcement: The text of any new-job announcement should provide new contact information only and not ask any clients or customers to transfer accounts. It also should provide the main office number, not the person’s direct line, so that a sales assistant can log incoming calls and keep records.
- Don’t Defame: Tell employees that when soliciting business with customers or clients to talk about why they should do business with their current company instead of saying anything negative about the previous place of work or any of its employees.
