Protecting Your Trade Secrets from Poaching Employees

I ran across Protecting your employees: how to stop poaching a while back and, although the focus is English, I see good advice here for any employers:

The best place to start is with an appropriate risk assessment, focused on identifying two things:

* Identify which staff or teams are the most likely to be tempted to remove information or attempt to take customers when they leave. In many cases, the greatest risks come from senior staff and sales teams.
* Identify the data and information most likely to be targeted. By doing so you can ensure that there is appropriate security, as well as a reliable system for tracking when and how the data has been accessed - an invaluable tool when trying to build a picture of what people have been up to.

The value of doing this is greatly enhanced by ensuring that the right wording is in place in employee contracts, particularly those who pose the greatest risk.

It is a common misapprehension that restrictive covenant clauses do not work or are not worth having - probably because lawyers argue so much over whether these clauses are enforceable. However, most employers forget that this is exactly what lawyers are paid to do.

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Key points

* Employee turnover is part of every day business life. In industries where human capital is key to establishing a competitive advantage, poaching is a critical issue.
* The growing use of technology is an increasing threat, as it continually makes it easier for valuable business information to be removed.
* Restrictive covenants can work, providing the restriction is valid. They work most effectively as part of a business response to the issues.
* Gardening leave can do little to restrict employees' activities from home.

Regardless of the chosen response, the important thing is to be well prepared and respond quickly and efficiently once the news of the departure breaks. The best way to prepare is to:

* identify the staff most likely to remove information or customers if they leave
* identify the data most likely to be targeted and secure it appropriately
* ensure the right wording is in employee contracts.

Remember, if you want more information about retaining me for a case, please give me a call at 765-641-7906.