Saw the thread discussing about users contacting tech, tech giving phone number. Bad idea.
I have a tech, been here for a while, good tech, not great but ambitious. He's done side jobs contracting others things and he's talked about being his own boss. Don't want to fire him don't want him to take any of my clients. anyone dealt with something like this?
Is your operations group big enough or would be served by making them a service manager, or job supervisor? Something that will make them feel like more of their own boss, and potentially make them see that being in charge isn't always what its cracked up to be. Make him responsible for 1 or 2 junior technicians?
If you are concerned with an employee potentially taking your clients put in place a non compete/non solicitation agreement. Make it a new standard policy at your company if it already isn't. The security market is not a huge one so this should really be a part of any company's standards.
Depending on where you do business and who your customers are, those are extremely hard to enforce. I've been on the receiving end of a non-compete lawsuit in New York State and it was thrown out of court in a matter of days.
I agree with the non-solicit but the non-compete is the same as going straight for the stick without the carrot. Bringing out shackles is not a good way to retain an employee or really even to protect your business.
I had a second thought as well...
If you think you could lose clients because a tech is leaving, to me that means he's not just a tech, he's managing those accounts. Give him a bonus or sales incentive if he upsells at those clients. If he's not capable of that, I don't think you have to worry about losing those clients.
This is an interesting concern that is probably echoed throughout.
A piece of advice I was given in the past was this...
> A non-compete is hard to enforce in a skilled trade, but a customer contract with a non-solicit for employees is enforceable with a dollar value typically based off training fees.
If it cost you $10,000 to replace and train a replacement, you can hold a customer liable for the loss if they entice them away or the customer moves accounts to the employees new company.
We do not do this, just advice I was given
Non competes are very weak and usually not very enforceable.
Non solicits are though.
Problem is you are in a bad spot. If you present this now, hemay leave. In a different business I suspected something like this, and when I presented the non solicit, he quit.
You really need to do some planning, get in front of your clients, and resolve this one way or another
Can you say “Right to work state”? Non competes and no solicits don’t do well unless he takes proprietary info with him and uses it, in my state.
If you have a non-solicit combined with a proprietary info agreement, it could stand up. The fact is, the tech would be using information gained from his employment to solicit clients.
It also depends on the employer and employee. If the employee leaves, prints some business cards, and tries to shoestring budget his business, they can't afford an attorney and will likely comply with any demands. The employer also has to spend some money on an attorney. If the employee gets some capital to start his company, he may be willing to legally fight it.
I suspect once any legal action is started, the tech would leave those clients alone.
It's also important to make sure the client understands the tech is a cog in the wheel, the wheel is what ultimately supports the client.
If a client is happy, they are not going to leave the first company.
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