In return for a fair and competitive job offer, many companies prefer concessions of some description from their workers.
Restrictive covenants such as non-compete agreements fall into this category. Another type of restrictive covenant includes non-solicitation agreements.
Non-solicitation vs. non-compete agreements
The Muse talks about non-solicitation agreements. They compare to the more widely-used non-compete agreements, which prevent a worker from taking their knowledge and expertise to another competing company within a certain period of time of their employment.
By contrast, non-solicitation agreements potentially limit your ability to gain clients or employees from your previous place of work.
Solicitation as an unfair advantage
It is sometimes viewed as an unfair advantage if someone leaves a company to join another or even start their own while keeping hold of their connections from their old workplace. For example, if you decide to start your own business, you may want to hire on one of your former co-workers.
If you try to entice them to join your company with higher wages or by using your personal connection to your advantage, this could potentially go against a non-solicitation agreement.
Another colloquial term for solicitation in this manner is “poaching”, i.e. when you attempt to steal away customers or former co-workers or colleagues when you leave a company and go elsewhere.
There are some instances where similar behavior is actually okay, though. This is why it is important to look over the precise wording of a work contract and understand exactly what is or is not allowed under the contract’s terms and wording.
