Morale at work has been super low for the past few years, ever since the CEO/President bragged about how well they did in 2021 “record profits, over and beyond anything we ever expected” and 2022 “we barely made more than we did last year”, but none of that success trickled down to the people responsible for that success. I’m surrounded by people actively looking for work elsewhere. So, to keep people from quitting, the company forced everyone to sign the agreement in the Imgur link I’ve attached. Of course it gives all power to the company, and of course we had to sign it under penalty of losing our jobs immediately.
This of course is in addition to Top Management blaming the Bottom Management for the morale issue, and rebranding poor morale as an “engagement issue”. They’re also forcing the workers to come up with solutions for the “engagement issue”, going so far as to put it on our annual reviews. Part of our “goals for the upcoming year” is to deal with “low engagement”. That’s right, if we don’t come up with solutions for our own morale problem, it will look poorly on our reviews.
I have worked for some brain-dead companies before, but I’ve never seen such myopia in Leadership. At least previously I knew I was getting fucked on purpose. Right now I’m not sure if it’s an accident.
They aren’t legitimate and the fact that the state considers them such is why the state itself is illegitimate, among other reasons.
I never understood these. They make you sign these non-competes as part of a contract agreement.
If you quit or they fire you, guess what… no more contract! Therefore, any agreements in it are poof, gone.
Or so it should be.
In several countries they are outright illegal unless the person is paid for the non-compete period.
In the US, however…
From what I’ve read and been presented as long as you can prove they stop you from being gainfully employed they are barely worth the paper printed on. I could be very wrong though.
That’s a very different and far less employee friendly situation.
In your case an ex-employee can still be stopped from taking certain better paying jobs (because he or she can still find what the Law deems as “gainful employment” even if paying less) all the while the ex-employer pays nothing for limiting the freedom of that person, plus the onus of proof if fighting the non-compete is on the ex-employee, not on the ex-employer.
Meanwhile in those other countries the ex-employee has to pay the ex-employer for the non-compete (and if it’s taken to court prove that they were paying for it) or the non-compete simply gets thrown out by the court, with no need for the ex-employer to prove anything.
Your is not a good and fair situation because an entity can still leverage its position of power to obtain benefits (quite possibly very significant ones) from a person after the period of a contract is over without having to pay for it, it’s simply not as extremelly bad as becoming unable to feed yourself (by not being able to find “gainful employment”). Sure you’re not completelly totally fucked, just very fucked.
That’s not at all comparable with the situation were by law they have to pay an ex-employee for it and it has to be set in stone contractually from the start (i.e. if they don’t used it it’s their problem) - in your case the ex-employee starts from having his or her post-employement choices limited at no cost for the ex-employer and having to dig his or her way out of it whilst in less shitty countries the ex-employer has to have a proper contract with actual monetary compensation to obtain that benefit of an ex-employee refraining from taking certain jobs, even it ends up being useless.
I’m actually shocked so many people seem to think what you described is a good thing, when it’s clearly a “the employee is still fucked at no cost for an employer, just not so totally fucked they end up homeless and starving to death”.
Where are you getting all this. The employee doesn’t have to do anything. The employer would have to sue them for breach, at the employers cost. You present it like a no cost to the employer thing. Of course never sign one of these anyway. They can’t fire you instantly for it. Tell them your lawyer will read it and you will get back to them. Should buy you a week or two to look for a new job.
In any " At Will" state. A few states might have some ridiculous shit going on.
These are “non-enforcable” in some states.
I was typing up a long reply basically saying this, but you summed it up. In most cases, it’s pure nonsense. Unless you’re actively sharing legitimate trade secrets that you were especially privy to, which could reasonably tank the company’s position or competitive advantage based on your actions, it’s trash talk. Change roles to your biggest competitor and tell your CEO/president to eat a side of juicy cockroaches alongside their breakfast of profits while your new employer values your particularly meaningful “suggestions”.
Michigan is just passed rules about these and that’s the state listed.
I’m not complete opposed to non -competes. I think they should have to pay you the whole time.
Big 3, Op?