Earlier this week, the FTC announced they would be taking action to eliminate employee non-compete agreements as we know them.
And all of LinkedIn celebrated.
At least all of those in my LinkedIn algorithm did.
But now that we are past the initial jubilee of those who may have felt trapped by golden handcuffs, and I have had some time to think about some of the longer term consequences of the decision, I think we need to address some new realities and how they will impact both businesses and employees.
First the business side:
Culture is now EVERYTHING!!
Company culture matters more now than ever. I know we have been saying that for years but I am not talking about the ping pong tables in the office….which no one goes to any longer…I am talking about the real culture.
Do you have a mission that is clear, meaningful and malleable? Malleable? – yes, malleable.
Malleable in the sense that whether your employee is an Achiever, Driver, Influencer, Learner, Optimizer, Orchestrator, Relator or Visionary, your mission is clearly aligned with their personality type and feeds their sense of accomplishment. (Not sure what I am speaking to, head over to https://motivationcode.com/ to learn more).
Is the mission pervasive through the organization? Do your second, third and fourth levels of management buy in and support it? It is well known that people don’t typically leave a job – they leave their manager. If it just became a lot easier to leave, you cannot afford to have bad managers any longer.
Now Employees:
If you are not positively impacting the company culture, the talent available to be your replacement just got infinitely larger. Think about it, employers no longer have to worry about how to get around a non-compete so they can recruit from anywhere. Any company. Any competitor. Any-where.
Top talent just became a whole lot more accessible…for the right company with the right culture.
Mid-level talent just became a lot more replaceable with a potential upgrade.
My advice?
Business – take a hard assessment of your culture. Conduct skip levels. Work to make sure you are a great place to work. Invest in your top performers (and in your recruiting department).
Employees – take a hard assessment of yourself and invest in yourself to either remain or become a top performer in your space. It just became more valuable than ever before.
It will certainly be an interesting experience to watch equilibrium play itself out in this new environment.
Game on.