Morale at work has been super low for the past few years, ever since the CEO/President bragged about how well they did in 2021 “record profits, over and beyond anything we ever expected” and 2022 “we barely made more than we did last year”, but none of that success trickled down to the people responsible for that success. I’m surrounded by people actively looking for work elsewhere. So, to keep people from quitting, the company forced everyone to sign the agreement in the Imgur link I’ve attached. Of course it gives all power to the company, and of course we had to sign it under penalty of losing our jobs immediately.
This of course is in addition to Top Management blaming the Bottom Management for the morale issue, and rebranding poor morale as an “engagement issue”. They’re also forcing the workers to come up with solutions for the “engagement issue”, going so far as to put it on our annual reviews. Part of our “goals for the upcoming year” is to deal with “low engagement”. That’s right, if we don’t come up with solutions for our own morale problem, it will look poorly on our reviews.
I have worked for some brain-dead companies before, but I’ve never seen such myopia in Leadership. At least previously I knew I was getting fucked on purpose. Right now I’m not sure if it’s an accident.
These are “non-enforcable” in some states.
Michigan is just passed rules about these and that’s the state listed.
I’m not complete opposed to non -competes. I think they should have to pay you the whole time.
If they pay you your entire salary the whole time, that’s essentially the same as making a rule saying you can’t work for them and a competitor at the same time and then paying you without giving you any tasks. I agree, that’s reasonable.
And that is how I got most of a year of full pay and insurance. I saved my unemployment benefit to start toward the end of the time and took a few months off to hang out with my kids.
I was typing up a long reply basically saying this, but you summed it up. In most cases, it’s pure nonsense. Unless you’re actively sharing legitimate trade secrets that you were especially privy to, which could reasonably tank the company’s position or competitive advantage based on your actions, it’s trash talk. Change roles to your biggest competitor and tell your CEO/president to eat a side of juicy cockroaches alongside their breakfast of profits while your new employer values your particularly meaningful “suggestions”.