I’ve been in business 20+ years - starting alone for the first years. Built it up and now have 5 employees. Recently I have been talking to my employees about buying into the company as I am nearing retirement. I gave two of my employees raises one of them a percentage based on his production. after that I got total silence never a thank you or anything so that caused some concern right there. One of the employees was receiving over $1000 a month raise. Recently I got Covid-19’s bad and was out for 2 months. I I have cameras at work so me and my partner were reviewing the cameras and noticed they were talking a lot of shit about me and making plans to start their own business I’m presuming stealing all the high-end clients. The Reality is that is if you put employee in the responsibility of dealing with clients you have to deal with the prospect that he might steal them eventually. less people and less drama and possibly hiring subcontractors to handle the business that I pay these people a lot of the time to stand around and do nothing might be better. We have a established a business location and will probably be fine. previously I’ve been talking with my right hand man about my exit strategy but now I want to talk to him about his exit strategy, one of the employees is poison to the others I can hear him talking shit about me and the business. I’m sure a lot of you experience the same type of situation’s any advice on how you handled it and the outcomes thereof would be appreciated thanks guys
I have had this happen to me. In fact it was someone I was close to (family member). In fact (woman owned in a male dominated field) every man that I hired prior to bringing my husband on to run operations tried to start their own business and take clients from me. Non-competes are not valid where I live.
First, I would fire those two employees immediately and by surprise so that they no longer have access to the clients. What will happen is the clients will get a phone call from them in a few weeks to months stating that they have left and started their own business. It will take them this long to learn how to start a business and procure the equipment, material, and certifications that they need. For the clients, especially the loyal ones, this will throw up a red flag. Or it might not and that client will give them a try. They will most likely call you at which point you can express that they were caught on camera plotting to steal customers. To clients this is an automatic sign that they cannot be trusted.
The thing is, at least in our case, not only are we very very good at what we do, we are lower priced and we pay our employees very well. None of our competitors can keep up with us, and non of the former employees who have tried have been successful.
Except that’s not what happens. Op clearly stated that was a guess
Or don’t express that. But if a client is calling you, it’s safe to assume that is exactly what happened. It doesn’t take much to put 2 & 2 together.
That is what happened in my case. Clients called me and said “why is this guy calling me are you ok?” My ex employee (the family member) told them that we were no longer in business and that he was taking over our clients. Once word got around that he was literally lying to them before he was even hired, his endeavor stalled.
The real solution you’re looking for is Non-Solicitation & Protection of Confidential Data. Both of which are enforceable.
Simply put, sure – the employee go work anywhere he wants to. He’s just not allowed to use any of the data gained during employment here.
As it turns out non-solicitation is also not valid in the state I live.