Noncompetes Become Obsolete

Hello, LinkedIn! We are bringing our award-pending Work Leader Weekly newsletter here. You can subscribe here or on our website .

In this newsletter, we have stories about the reinvention of talent acquisition, who is getting replaced by AI, and protesting at work. But first, let’s talk about the downfall of noncompetes.

Let’s jump into it.?

Another Win For Workers...For Now

Big news in the talent industry this week. The Federal Trade Commission has enacted a practical ban on noncompete agreements. Here’s a summary directly from the agency itself:?

Under the FTC’s new rule, existing noncompetes for the vast majority of workers will no longer be enforceable after the rule’s effective date. Existing noncompetes for senior executives — who represent less than 0.75% of workers — can remain in force under the FTC’s final rule, but employers are banned from entering into or attempting to enforce any new noncompetes, even if they involve senior executives. Employers will be required to provide notice to workers other than senior executives who are bound by an existing noncompete that they will not be enforcing any noncompetes against them.

While this is an enormous change for many organizations, the new, temporary FTC standard has been the practical reality of firms in California forever. In Washington State, where I’m located, noncompetes have always required a salary threshold for employees they apply to.?

Either one of those options is fine, but what California does and what the FTC is proposing is just much easier to manage. Instead of blanket noncompetes for non-executives (which never made any sense), you simply need to figure out alternatives to keeping employees. The FTC does point out that the vast majority of people covered under a noncompete are also covered under nondisclosure or trade secret agreements.?

While some business leaders talk about protecting their businesses with noncompetes, no one could quite explain how the nation’s most successful economy manages just fine despite these rules. None of this would’ve been necessary had noncompetes already been restricted to senior executives. But when you extend them to people making under $50k, it has never made any sense other than providing a way to lock people into a job. That’s lazy and wrong. Forcing a person in that position to change industries because they might know a little bit about how your business works has been just an absurd outcome.

In that sense, it’s another plus to nearly three years of worker gains — at least at the federal level. That’s great. But federal rulemaking can be undone by a new president with a different agenda. Codifying labor law updates with legislation is needed if we want labor-friendly rules to stick.

The Book is Here:? Working Relationships

You can now buy Aaron Delgaty, PhD 's Working Relationships in any format you like — ebook, hardcover, softcover, and the audiobook (read by the author himself).? We’re pending the direct-to-brain mind-meld version.?

Need more incentive? Here’s what Bret Starr has to say.

I've spent my entire career focused on employee experience (both as a CEO and a service provider in the field of Work Tech) — more than 30 years! And I've never read a book about employee experience that is this thoughtful and this good. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the author (Aaron Delgaty) is a real-life Ph.D. cultural anthropologist who has ALSO worked in the field and ALSO worked in the professional services sector focused on these issues. There is real substance here. I would give it six stars if I could (because it is beyond excellent).

Get the book now!

Quick hits from around the web

What else is happening?

What’s Next for AI-Enabled Recruiting and Talent Acquisition? Insights from iCIMS CTO Al Smith . (HR Brew )

Women Are More Likely To Be Replaced by AI, According to LinkedIn . We’re still a ways from this but something to look at. (Fast Company )

A Wave of AI Tools Is Set to Transform Work Meetings. Let’s hope they transform them into something that doesn't currently exist. (Wired )

Supreme Court Appears Poised to Side With Starbucks in Labor Dispute Over Firing of Pro-Union Employees. One case to watch for work leaders with possible unionization. (Time )

谷歌 Fires More Workers After CEO Says Workplace Isn’t for Politics. We are figuratively a lifetime away from George Floyd protests in 2020. (Washington Post )

Remote Work — A Boon or Bane for the Environment? Spoiler alert: Boon. (Spiceworks )

Return-to-Office Mandates: Layoffs in Sheep's Clothing. I 100% believe this is happening to a certain extent. (Reworked )

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison Wishes He Could Be a “Cave Dwelling” Remote Worker. Interesting conversation that seems as honest as any from a CEO struggling with remote versus in-person. (eFinancialCareers )

Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Rule To Increase Compensation Thresholds for Overtime Eligibility, Expanding Protections for Millions of Workers. An almost $15k increase in the salary threshold. (Department of Labor )

Old Tech Gets New Life

If you think supporting remote employee technology across the globe is tough, imagine supporting nearly 50-year-old technology from 15 billion miles away. ( NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration via Boing Boing ):

In a stellar display of problem-solving, NASA has restored contact with the legendary Voyager 1 probe after five months of radio silence. The 46-year-old spacecraft went dark last November when a key computer chip failed, garbling the engineering data it beams across 15 billion miles of space.

Rather than accept defeat, mission engineers devised an audacious workaround — rewriting the corrupted software from scratch and relocating it piecemeal into unaffected areas of the probe's computer memory.?

Far out! I love this stuff.

That's it for this week!?

?Lance

[Shameless Plug]

?About TSC | Previously The Starr Conspiracy

The Starr Conspiracy is an Experience Agency. We create defining moments for Work Tech companies in brand, marketing, sales, product and customer success.

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