Man, this whole non-compete contract thing is about two of my major grievances with the beer industry: the obsession with recipes and people thinking they own their employees.
More important than the recipe point (which is one of my largest pet peeves), non-competes are a formalized statement of owning your employees’ time to the degree that they cannot use whatever skills or knowledge came out of that time without your consent.
That’s a bullshit opinion.
In 99 out of 100 cases, a non-compete is not a prudent defense of IP, it’s a threat to employees to not quit and it’s bullshit.
Given the shortage of brewing talent in the world right now, I also hear a lot of “poaching” accusations thrown around these days. Offering someone more money/responsibility/creativity to change jobs is not poaching, it’s competitive.
Your employees are not things you own. Their intellect does not belong to you, their time does not belong to you and their loyalty must be earned, not purchased.
I’m as stressed out as the next business owner about keeping our staff here and happy, but contractual bullying and blaming other companies for my employees decisions are not tools I use to deal with that.
Give people meaningful jobs with clarity of purpose. Pay them well. Say thank you.
