at work they're trying to sell the company. it's this huge ass conglomeration with lots of smaller businesses doing similar things in various markets.
as a consequence, and also b/c of economy, they've been tightening the belt. there's no long a tunover rate of 10% but an outright attrition rate of 20%. That is, they aren't really replacing staff. If they want to open a line during the hiring freeze they have to justify it out the hoo ha.
meanwhile, it's a private company but might have public buyers, therefore they need as assload of paperwork to prepare for such a sale -- which has its own rules. last told, when a buyer came in recently, they signed agreements out the hoo ha, thought they had a prospectus that answered all but the buyer came back with 1500 questions they hadn't thought of.
you can imagine the $ ca$hflow funneled into the sale. for a company that never goes into debt and recently built a new 26 story building, and its paid for, the belt-tightening is intense.
morale sux. we finally got fed up and met with middle management for some answers. go the usual drill.
i'm not sure whether this recent event is part of prepping for a sale or part of dealing with the attrition (they value long-term employees and are unused to thinking that people quit or leave) or both, but they are now asking us to sign this pretty damn intimidating Intellectual Property agreement.
It's got a lot of the usual crap in it: anything you create on the job belongs to them, some address of non-compete issues, some address to trade secrets. really, it's the usual drill. Just given that they are trying to institute a trade secrets agreements that is retroactive tells me that it's a sorry thing, this agreement. (One of the ways something is a secret is if you take steps to make it a secret. that would mean telling employees at hire date that its a secret, posting notices, training programs, yearly reminders, email, resigning of trade secret agreement. that sort of thing. you can't hardly make someone sign an agreement to keep something secret if, for 7 years, you never made them.
anyway, i'm obviously going to see an attorney.
but all hell has broke loose at the workplace. people are pissed. morale is in the sewer already, this didn't help. most people i've talked to are claiming that they refuse to sign it, just based on their reading.
partly, they are angry b/c they think that, if they use a gmail account to keep records -- which one guy does (and he shouldn't store his shit on google, i know, but he won't listen to me about security) is convinced that this will mean that the company will confiscate his email account.
i told him that it would always boil down to $$.for the company to go after him, they'd have to benefit, monetarily. they'd have to feel that they were being ripped off. some supervisor who does CYA record keeping, makes notes of the comings and goings of members of his team, etc. is not keep records that a company will give a rat's about.
but he was all bent that they would take his google account.
of course, my experience is that the things they bend you over a barrel on aren't obvious.
frankly, once an attorney tells me what's up, i'll sign it: for an increased salary. :) we already know i'm a whore, i work there, everything else is about negotiating. big lesson i had to learn huh?
anyway, i mentioned to anyone who asked me that they need to talk to an attorney. i was just thinking that the people who have side businesses or jobs should do this. but after getting a load of the document that someone found and is passing around, everyone should get an attorney.
question: would an attorney charge a group rate?
question: do you think its a good idea for me to either directly or spread the meme around that we aren't signing anything without reasonable time to seek legal advice. is this something a company would listen to?
i mean, obviously, if a bunch of people don't sign it, they're screwed. we've lost 20% of a staff that was already slim. if they lose, say, 30% more, they're deeply screwed.
no, reaction is not toward collective action, as you can imagine. *rolls eyes* and i'm not going to even push it b/c i've got way too much else on my plate at the moment.
but i'm wondering: what do we face here, if anyone's been in same boat, or heard about something similar?
have other companies tried to secure retroactive IP, trade secret, non-compete agreements like this?
what things can we do, collectively?
would you advise setting up some kind of email discussion list, to air things. one thing i've noticed, the young folks don't know what to do, while older more cantankerous folks who've been around the block are pissed and saying they won't sign. would getting a list like this going be a good idea, to expose younger folks to ideas other than their own -- which from observation is to just roll over.
or is this just a waste of time.
i suspect word'll get out that, if i start such a thing, i'm a trouble maker. *sigh*
anyway, thanks for thoughts on the matter.
http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)