Protecting your secrets from exiting employees
O*NO! You have no employment contract in place, and your employee has handed in their notice. You may have had an oral agreement with them, which worked out just fine for the employment term, or it may be that your employee is your good old mate, so you never felt the need for formalities. But are ‘trust’ and ‘good vibes’ alone enough to forever protect your real estate agency’s confidential information once your employee departs?
The simple answer is NO, they are not, and unless your departing employee’s duty of confidentiality and other post-employment obligations to your agency are clearly documented, the rules around strict confidence could be that much harder to enforce.
So, what are your options if your employee’s post-employment expectations were never documented and your employee is already packing up their things as you read this? Is it too late to act now? Fortunately, there are some measures you can still take as a last-ditch attempt to future-proof your employment relationship.
Before you take any further steps in this direction, you must first understand why exactly you have to take them. If you want to get a jump start, read Parts 1 and 2 of this series:
1. How to protect your client database from walking out the door
2. How to update your employment contracts so they protect your agency
So, what can you do?
A written contract is the best starting place to protect your business, but if there’s never been a contract, here are some steps you can follow:
Write your departing employee a letter reminding them that even if there is no employment contract signed; that at law, they still have an obligation not to disclose confidential information relating to the business
If you have reason to believe that an employee may be departing with your confidential information or has committed a breach of its confidentiality obligation to your agency, do an audit of what they have downloaded and their pre-exit activities. The laws of each state set out when an employer can and cannot perform surveillance on an employee, and if acting in line with these laws, you may be able to investigate your employee’s email accounts and IT systems and intercept a possible breach in time. (Talk to a lawyer before taking this step!)
Do an audit on all of your employee files and if you discover that you’re missing a contract — put a contract in place PRONTO!
If at any stage you find yourself unsure of the legal rules for any of the above points, flick us an email!
Takeaway
Write your existing employee a letter, clearly setting out their obligations – ie protecting your confidential info forever! It’s vital that an employee who is leaving you is aware their post-employment obligations to your agency .
Consider performing workplace surveillance where you suspect they are departing with your confidential information / client database – but talk to a lawyer first!
Having an employee’s post-employment obligations clearly documented in their contract is the first step towards future-proofing your employment relationship.
If there was never an employment contract in place or an oral contract existed, these obligations could be harder to enforce – so do your audit and plug any leaky holes by getting contracts in place for current employees.
Your next steps
Go and check your employment contracts!
Want new employment contracts so you know you’re covered? Book your free 10 min call with our team here.
Boring legal stuff: This article is general information only and cannot be regarded as legal, financial or accounting advice as it does not take into account your personal circumstances. For tailored advice, please contact us. PS - congratulations if you have read this far, you must love legal disclaimers or are a sucker for punishment.