Lightning Can, Does and Will Strike Twice!
This week we thought it would be worth sharing a cautionary tale with you regarding the impact a lack of an employment contract can have.
The areas covered in this post are:
1. Gross Misconduct and Non-compete Clauses
We have a new client who we’ve been in conversation with for around 6 months.
They originally contacted us to help them deal with a case of gross misconduct and the subsequent very acrimonious departure of the employee (to be clear, our support didn’t lead to the acrimonious departure!)
The employee then immediately started working for one of the client’s competitors and approaching their clients to get them to move their business.
Having had this happen once the client thought it unlikely that it would happen again, but last week it did!
2. The Importance of Employment Contracts and Policies
We are now working with the client to put an employment contract and policies in place which will help them minimise the chances of this happening again.
We talk with a lot of businesses about HR and their view is often that employment law is tipped in favour of the employee. There are some cases where this is true but when it comes to employment contracts and policies they really can be used to protect your business.
Your employment contract should help protect you against ex-employees poaching your clients and staff. It can be difficult to enforce clauses preventing staff working for competing businesses but it isn’t impossible to do so, unless of course you don’t have an employment contract in place which covers this!
3. What You Should Do to Protect Your Business
So, we suggest making sure that you are happy with the employment contract you have in place and, as luck would have it, we offer a free employment contract review service!
If you’d like us to take a look at your employment contract and let you know any areas where we think you could protect your business more then give us a call on 0203 319 1649 and we can talk your requirements through with you.
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