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I once met a guy who was a programmer for a hedge fund. The strategies and knowledge he had would be very useful to competitors. They didn't have a non-compete

I once met a guy who was a programmer for a hedge fund. The strategies and knowledge he had would be very useful to competitors. They didn't have a non-compete agreement in the contract, as this is almost never enforceable here, instead he agreed to a six month notice period - after working two months' notice they then paid four months' salary for him to take a holiday while his knowledge became less and less useful to a competitor. I guess the strategies these guys use only have a limited shelf life but I don't really know much about this sort of work. Perhaps that sounds like overkill but it feels a bit more reasonable and more fair to the employee - if you want someone to agree to a non-compete then you should agree to pay them for their time where they can't work.

OJFord 7y ago
It's quite common in senior posts or industries/domains with that sort of 'in-head' knowledge build-up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mountainofdeath 7y ago
Can confirm that this is generally how critical financial positions work. They do have a no-compete but the expectation is that the no-compete is paid for at the previous wage. It's quite common to get a 6 month severance during the cooldown period.
- walshemj 7y ago
  Without payment non competes are flat out unenforceable in some legal systems.
soVeryTired 7y ago
I got a couple of months' gardening leave (as it's known in the industry). The most senior guys would typically get six months off work: three paid, three unpaid. It's just an industry-standard way of doing things. I didn't leave for a competitor but still got a paid vacation (though in principle I was "on call" while I was on the books). To be honest, it sort of felt like a courtesy they extended rather than a means of protecting their IP. There's already a huge amount of lateral hiring in asset management, so everyone already kinda-sorta knows what everyone else is doing.
- duggan 7y ago
  > I got a couple of months' gardening leave (as it's known in the industry). The most senior guys would typically get six months off work: three paid, three unpaid. I don't understand - three months unpaid gardening leave is just unemployment.
  - soVeryTired 7y ago
    Taken literally, the unpaid component isn't gardening leave, but informally people will refer to the whole period of down-time as gardening leave.
ec109685 7y ago
Even without a non-compete, you can’t divulge company secrets to new employer. NDA’s are enforceable.

OJFord 7y ago

It's quite common in senior posts or industries/domains with that sort of 'in-head' knowledge build-up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_leave

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

mountainofdeath 7y ago

Can confirm that this is generally how critical financial positions work. They do have a no-compete but the expectation is that the no-compete is paid for at the previous wage. It's quite common to get a 6 month severance during the cooldown period.

walshemj 7y ago
Without payment non competes are flat out unenforceable in some legal systems.

soVeryTired 7y ago

I got a couple of months' gardening leave (as it's known in the industry). The most senior guys would typically get six months off work: three paid, three unpaid. It's just an industry-standard way of doing things. I didn't leave for a competitor but still got a paid vacation (though in principle I was "on call" while I was on the books). To be honest, it sort of felt like a courtesy they extended rather than a means of protecting their IP. There's already a huge amount of lateral hiring in asset management, so everyone already kinda-sorta knows what everyone else is doing.

duggan 7y ago
> I got a couple of months' gardening leave (as it's known in the industry). The most senior guys would typically get six months off work: three paid, three unpaid. I don't understand - three months unpaid gardening leave is just unemployment.
- soVeryTired 7y ago
  Taken literally, the unpaid component isn't gardening leave, but informally people will refer to the whole period of down-time as gardening leave.

ec109685 7y ago

Even without a non-compete, you can’t divulge company secrets to new employer. NDA’s are enforceable.