My solution for this nonsense would be to make things such that a noncompete is only enforceable as long as the employee is being paid their highest wage in the

My solution for this nonsense would be to make things such that a noncompete is only enforceable as long as the employee is being paid their highest wage in the previous two years during the entire time of the non-compete and they were limited to a maximum of 2 years (both limits are required to avoid certain gamesmanship). If you make this salary only (not stock), it has the bonus of screwing over bogus $1 CEO tax-dodge salaries too. If it's actually that important that they be kept off the market, they should have to pay the salary during that time. If it's not important enough to pay them for, then it shouldn't be had.