Mr.Pickles

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Restrictive Covenants Agreement - Noncompete

Hello Savages - happy Wednesday.

Recently the company I work for decided to update the non-compete agreement for all the admin roles. Long story short, this new document shall be in force for one year following the termination. One year! - that's crazy.

Call me old-fashioned but I always go mercenary mode looking to grow as much as possible in the segment... which sometimes means moving to another position in another company. Having this in place feels like a handbrake...

Have you seen this happening before? Any advice when encountering such a situation?

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29 comments

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funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Confused what you mean by "admin roles." Admin usually doesn't refer to sales - are you classified as admin there or something?

Unless you hold a key and high level position you really don't need to worry about non-competes. They're generally unenforceable in the courts and a company isn't going to bother with the legal fees and court battle except in very rare situations. A random mid level salesperson simply leaving for another job with a competitor is not one of those rare situations.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Exactly this.

Ontario just passed legislation that will ban them outright as well.

But as coups said, unenforceable. If you have a ton of proprietary knowledge and are involved on the technical or strategic side, then they can hold weight.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Makes sense - thanks caps

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Sales Managers / Account Managers

JC10X

Politicker

Senior Sales Manager

This is awful - tech sales is booming right now, these types of NCA are unethical but I understand why they get set in place - with this whole great resignation ordeal.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Makes no sense for me as well - in this digital era, you can't enforce me to stay under lame conditions... very frustrating tbh

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Non-competes are not legal in my state, so this isn't something we need to worry about at all.

But on a broader scale, would your current company really be in a position to pursue people at a non-exec level if they took another job within a year of leaving? Why do they care so much?

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

They are - a friend of mine was there 2 weeks ago and shit hit the fan. she's in another country... but still

justatopproducer

Politicker

VP OF SALES -US

Companies will threaten but they don’t enforce. I’ve had two year non-competes and still selling

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

That sounds like a relief. Thank you for sharing. Have they actually reached out when you moved companieS?

justatopproducer

Politicker

VP OF SALES -US

Yes, almost every company sends a letter and/or email stating they believe I’m breaking the non-compete somehow. Never reply, ignore and move on, half of me thinks guilty parties will reply and show their guilt. And no problem, also if there ever is a lawsuit or things get dicey I’ve heard of other companies poaching top people from a competitor and paying legal fee’s and making a deal with the previous employer. They just need to want you bad enough.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Yeah this is fucking brutal.

I get why companies do it, but dont they know that this hurts them in the long run???

Forced allegiance isnt a real thing.

If you want to go to a competitor then I would tell them about the non compete and see what they say. Maybe they will back you.

Id be curious to hear stories of companies trying to enforce a non compete and succeeding, or failing.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

I was thinking the same - share the NCA with the next one

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Noncompete clauses are illegal where I am, I'd refuse to sign one even if they weren't.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

I have not signed it... but they are pressuring.

Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

War Room Enthusiast

One year seems excessive... I've never heard of it being so long.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

ikr! I've seen one month - but this is just off the charts

NoSuperhero

Politicker

BDR LEAD

I mean I get it, but why??

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

growing business

MaximumRaizer

Politicker

Sales Manager

This is awful - tech sales is booming right now, these types of NCA are unethical but I understand why they get set in place - with this whole great resignation ordeal.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Ikr! What hit even harder is that if you're becoming an expert on something and then you want to move to the next step, you just cant in that area... smh

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

non-competes aren't worth the docusign storage space they sit on. Good luck to enforcing one and finding a judge that will rule in the companies favor.

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

Thanks for the insight. Are these kind of docs really a thing?

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Non competes? Hell yeah. I’ve signed 5-6 and they don’t mean dick.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

How does the NCA stop you from moving to another company?

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

The NCA states that you can't go to the competitors (which basically are the whole industry) - like how crazy is that?

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Never heard of it before this. Did a quick Google and I'd say it's got legs. Here's a tweet from the CEO of Stripe:

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

This is awful - tech sales is booming right now, these types of NCA are unethical but I understand why they get set in place - with this whole great resignation ordeal.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

Confused what you mean by "admin roles." Admin usually doesn't refer to sales - are you classified as admin there or something?

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