Which is particularly relevant at consultancies where the product is a service.
If you join a consultancy group, and 2 months later quit with the client roster... is it really OK to poach all their clients to start your own consultancy?
All of these contracts are time limited, FWIW. E.g. non-solicitation doesn't mean you can never work your your colleagues again. It protects against someone leaving and then immediately poaching all employees within 12 months. After 12 months you're welcome to poach as much as you'd like.
Edit: Furthermore, non-solicits don't ban your colleagues from quitting with you, as long as you're not directly asking them to quit. If they make the decision independently without being lobbied by a former employee, it's not in violation of non-solicit.
I've been part of 5x consultancies in my career now, so this is a very heated debate.
- First, if you "steal" a client roster, then this is very clearly a trade secret and sits under different terms ("IP")
- Second, if I can do the same job (e.g. that don't require access to trade secrets) then why do I need the consultancy's benefit anyway? If the consultancy's brand/operations don't provide enough value to its clients already then maybe they (the consultancy) are doing something wrong. It's a consultancy's job to create value for its clients, consultants and it's partners, otherwise it's just a body shop.
- Third, "is it really OK?" by whose definition? Are you saying ethically?
> If they make the decision independently without being lobbied by a former employee, it's not in violation of non-solicit.
Why does it matter whether the employee is lobbied or not? The employee ultimately has free will.
If we believe that the free movement of jobs is a net benefit (both in terms of wage normalization and societal innovation) then aren't those things we would want as a society?