Rachel Stone explains what you need to have in place in the event of a star performer leaving your firm.
Even in these straightened times, we are still seeing teams on the move. So it's worth taking a minute to consider whether your firm is in the best shape to deal with the loss of some of your key players. Make sure you have the following three steps covered.
1. Contractual protection
- Make sure that you have valid and robust restrictive clauses that will stand up to legal challenge.
- Check that your employment contracts have clauses allowing you to use garden leave to keep an employee off site after resignation.
- Your gross misconduct definitions in your disciplinary policy should include clear references to poaching clients, staff and information.
2. Communication and engagement
- All key staff need to feel involved and engaged in your business.
- Talk to them about the future, their part in it and how they will share in the success of the business.
3. Protecting client information and relationships
- Your IT policies and systems should make it difficult for staff to copy records or to take client information off site.
- All key clients should have a good working relationship with more than one person in your business.
If the worst happens, there are a number of actions you should take straight away. Firstly, remind any resigning employees about their restrictive covenants and put this in writing. If you suspect that an employee or ex-employee is breaching these, take legal advice immediately. Remove access to your computer systems and ask for the immediate return of any client records that they may have and remove memory sticks, laptops and company phones that may contain lists of client or other sensitive information. Finally, make a handover plan so that clients meet their new contact as soon as possible.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
