Me_Recruiter
Hi, What actions can be taken if an ex-employee starts sharing client confidential information to our competitor (new employer).
From India, Pune
ankitchaturvedi
393

Dear Recruiter,
Firstly, all data of the employees leaving the organization should be checked before / on their last working day. This will help the organization to preserve confidential data with them and hence no sharing or leakage of the data will take place.
Second, there should be a clause mentioned in the relieving letter stating that no information will be shared to any supplier or competitor for a period on minimum 2 years, failing which the company will take legal action against the left employee.
If these clauses are not mentioned in the reliving letter and also the documents were not checked before the relieving of the employee, the company still has rights to contact the ex-employee and warn or take legal action against him / her.

From India, Mumbai
Cite Contribution
1859

Greetings,
Bad news: You will never have any control to loyalty
Good news: You have figured that out
Bad news: Every employee managing an high revenue job, is a potential threat when she/he leaves.
Good news: Count the positive returns on your employees, only till they serve you and negative returns once they leave. There can be exceptions though.
Long story short, no use of crying over split milk.
Next time when any of your blue-eyed employee puts his/her paper down, count the losses and prewire . Create stronger relationship with your client informing possible talent movements, thereby planning for cooperation. Identify every weak link, through which outages are likely. Let forewarn be forearmed. Not every time will it be a fairy tale.
Yet, lesser you losses count, better it is.
Wish you all the best !

From India, Mumbai
Me_Recruiter
Thanks for the response.
@Ankit - The data was more of details about the clients, which was shared with employee as a part of the process. Also moreover, instead of relieving letter a similar clause is mentioned in our Employment Terms & Conditions, which every employee while joining reads and signs out. Does this entitle us to take any action, If yes, then kindly help me with possible actions that can be taken.
@(Cite Contribution) - Thanks. Valid points, would definitely keep it in mind
Recruiter

From India, Pune
Cite Contribution
1859

Non-disclosure Agreement is not valid in India. Please read these threads and then decide your course of action.
How to stop employees from joining a competitor
Bond Prohibiting employees from joining competitor
There are several more in this topic.

From India, Mumbai
Ryan
89

Hi
Can you prove the following:
1) Existence of IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Clause in your standing orders or code of conduct or appointment letter
2) This IPR data is proprietorial (created and maintained) to your organization only and cannot be obtained in the open market
Paraphrasing (Cite Contribution) - you cannot ask the employee to leave behind his brain and move to the next organization.
In case you weren't aware - people in corporate sales / BD functions move organizations exactly on basis of the number of business accounts they will bring with them. HR culture fit and other such criteria are not given much importance, though we try hard.
Treat it as learning and move on.
Regards

From India, Mumbai
Anonymous
8

I think in the past I have mentioned as to how the premier advertising agency RK Swamy associates got formed. Just to refresh, one fine day the branch manager of Chennai branch of Hindustan Thomson Associates, Mr. RK Swamy just replaced the Hindustan Thomson Associates board with RK Swamy associates board in the Madras office building. He then called for a meeting of all employees and told them that all those who are willing to join his new company would get double the salary from that day onwards. And those who don't want to join him, can leave the office. The loyalists who did not join RK Swamy did not have an office for days together, till a makeshift office was created in Hotel Connemara.

Needless to say, all the clients of Madras branch of HTA, except for Ponds India, moved with RK Swamy. HTA went to court. Nothing happened. The judgement was that clients are no one's personal assets. They are open to be lured and taken. Every client would look at any relationship ship as a business relationship and not as a husband wife relationship. When there is money, there is honey. So RK Swamy associates was absolved of all charges. And please remember, the judgement was given in the pre 1996 era, i e prior to liberalization.In the current scenarios of liberalization, such thoughts of prosecution should not even be formed in your mind. Today, the world is not so big. It's a virtual village. Information is the key and is available everywhere. It's just impossible to keep it confidential. And claiming that confidential information was taken away by an employee will remain an assumption. Nothing is confidential in the wiki leaks era. Just let the employee enjoy his good times.

From Indonesia, Jakarta
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