Non-disclosure, non-compete and notice are different things that you're mixing together. Notice is compulsory -- you simply cannot let go of the employee immed

Non-disclosure, non-compete and notice are different things that you're mixing together. Notice is compulsory -- you simply cannot let go of the employee immediately and must continue paying them for 3 months (or up to 4 months in some countries where every calendar month started is due). Non-compete is opt-in by the employer, and allows them to prevent you from working for a competitor (for up to one year I believe). In exchange the employer must still pay your previous salary (some employers will ask employees without compensation, but that's not legally enforceable). Non-disclosure means that you're not able to disclose company and trade secrets, similarly to an NDA. It is a standard term in most employment contracts and usually applies for one year, regardless of the non-compete being enforced or not. It is fairly common to send people for garden leave during their notice, but actually extending it further by enforcing the non-compete is a costly thing and will only be done for strategic employees.