Poaching Of Employees
Q.3. You are thinking of hiring a product manager who has just left a competitor’s company. She would be more than happy to tell you all the competitor’s plans for the coming year. What would you do?
In the contemporary world, the business market has been highly competitive, and companies are doing everything possible to keep up with their rivals. The need to acquire new talents and human resources has become the norm of these companies, which has made it normal and ethical for competitors to poach employees from rivals (Armstrong et al., 2018). In the instant where the product manager is willing to work for my company, it will be fair to offer her the job.
Employees are not the personal property of their employer, so they have the freedom to choose where they want to be, and if one does not feel comfortable at the place where she works, they are at liberty to leave. The reason why I would offer my competitor’s former product manager a chance in my company is to provide her an opportunity of growth and progress with her career at my company. Although poaching might not be illegal, it should be done ethically. This can be done by ensuring that there are boundaries set and that the standards used for other employees should be used across the board. No favors should be provided for the new employee.
The intention of hiring the new product manager will not as a strategy directly linked to benefit from the information that she might have on the competitor. Hiring her will be giving her a chance to practice her expertise at my company. It is ethical not to force her into telling the secrets that she has about her former employer and let her do that at her discretion. The trading of the secret should not be a part of the conditions for her employment.
In conclusion, the business world is becoming a free market where anything is for grabs, including talents. For that reason, any organization should be aware of poaching and do everything possible to ensure that its best-skilled employees are not poached. It is important to consider compensating employees in the best way possible and consider signing non-compete and non-solicitation agreements when hiring new employees.
Reference
Armstrong, G. M., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2018). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson UK.