Non-compete and non-solicitation
👋 Introduction
It's not uncommon for clients to wonder if they can hire someone from the team. However, an agency is valuable because of the people who work there and to protect that, we sign two-way contracts with clients and employees on not competing and not soliciting.
1️⃣ Non-compete clause
The non-compete clause means that employees may not work with clients:
in a capacity similar to their work at Obvious (Design / consulting / leading teams etc.)
in any role relevant to them (employee / consultant / director / investor or shareholder)
for or without compensation
directly or on a trust basis, without a contract
These conditions are valid for 12 months from the date of an employee’s exit.
Clients are also expected to not make offers to Obvious employees for 12 months from the date of their project ending.
Sometimes timelines can work out in a way that you initiated a conversation with an organisation before they became Obvious' clients and by the time they made an offer to you, they began a project with Obvious. In this scenario, your best course of action is to inform the hiring contact that they are currently working with your present org. The timestamps on the conversation will help clear the stickiness of the situation.
2️⃣ Non-solicitation clause
The non-solicitation clause means that employees may not incite any existing employees, consultants or associates:
to stop working with Obvious
to reduce their association with Obvious
to join or work with another organisation
This agreement also extends to customers, suppliers, partners, sellers or independent contractors.
These conditions are valid for 12 months from the date of an employee’s exit.
3️⃣ FAQs
Does this include companies that are not clients of Obvious or prospective clients?
No.
Have there been situations when Obvious was okay with an ex-employee joining an existing client or recently concluded business partnership?
There are a few instances that are essentially acts of goodwill. For examples, high performers moving out because the business contracted or people moving geographies and therefore Obvious referred them to a client in that geography.
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