Ex member of staff contacting our clients and workforce

greenface

You ex employee seems a bit of a nightmare and i bet your glad your shut . Do you know the people where she has gone to ? Here is what i would do . I would call them and speak to them on a pleasant mood without having or wanting a go at them . Make them aware about there new staff member and what they are trying to do and it reflects on them as a company . If other staff or clients want to move elsewhere thats up to them . They will already know but make sure you know they know .Thus potential new cleints of thiers will know too. Not sure what your business is could be recruitment by the posts . I am good friends with a very very large recruitment boss based in Wrexham and they have made it big by making friends and keeping contacts happy. IMHO good luck its not easy but staying positive makes you the better person

goonarmy

Is there actually a problem? Annoying and unprofessional but not really a problem is it?

PlutoinCapricorn

There may be a potential problem; when the wonderful job and the attempts to poach staff and business and perhaps an attempt to re-join the original company don't work,the ex-employee might try to start a smear campaign...

cavework

Thank you for the replies .. I admit I did react badly at first but there seems to be no long term damage so far . Our clients and staff are absolutely fine , in fact a little bit confused as to why she thought her leaving would affect our business .
As for any further come backs , I do think she convinced the new employer that she could bring most of our workforce with her. That has failed dismally as she was pretty unpopular in the end.
So we move on and keep doing what we do so well..the contacts were through our business as we provide mobiles to all staff.

Thank you
xxx

heretolearn_2

op - ignore Spacey - all of his posts show he hates all employers although I'm not sure what he would prefer - no employers at all therefore everyone unemployed?

If there's no damage being done, ignore it. It is possible to put an anti-poach clause in to employees contracts, however, if you think this might occur again. Hard to actually enforce, but might make someone else think twice.

we had someone leave us who attempted to poach clients. Basically by smearing us - a couple of clients warned us this was happening. We didn't lose one client because they were a) happy with us and b) even those who were willing to listen to what the ex-employee had to say decided they didn't want to work with someone so unethical because of what she was saying about us.

tBagpuss_2

If she is using information which was provided to her in her role as your employee, it may be worth checking where this leaves you from a data protection position.
DO you have a data protection policy? If not, this could be your cue to put one in place / update the one you have, and to ensure that all staff including any new hires are fully aware that they may only use r access data for business purposes for you.

I would be inclined to do a mail shot to exisiting clients - not explicitly accusing her of anything, but confirming that you're still there, that you're providing all the same excellent services you always have etc.

I think that by taking data provided to your company, and using it for cold calling, she / her new employer may be in trouble from a data protection perspective, but take advice before raising it in case it could rebound on you as the original source of the data.

And yes, consider having any competative clauses in any new contracts - while they may not be strictly enforceable they ma reduce the liklihood of similar attempts in future.

MEM62

Ex employees can be a challenge and if this individual was difficult during her time with you then there is no reason to assume that she would be less difficult once she had gone.

I think that there is little you can to do curtail her activities but, to be honest, the impact of her activities is likely to be minimal.

As an aside, no T&C's in any employment contract can prevent this kind of activity. That contract is in force whilst the employee works for you and ceases the day their employment ends. No conditions in that contract can be enforced post-employment. If you want to restrict an employees activities after they leave your employment you need a separate agreement outside the employment contract. Even then there are limitation as to what you can include in this - for example it cannot be so restrictive that it effectively prevents them from working in the same field.

Atidi

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

You can put clauses into your t&c of employment to prevent this, ...

Such clauses could well be held null, void, unfair and/or unenforcible ... and may even affect the validity of the remainder of the contract too.

I suggest anyone thinking of including such potentially unfair clauses seeks independent legal advice.

Atidi

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

Your only mistake apart from not firing her ages ago was to let her retract her resignation.

... and then asking the troublemaker to remain in her post whilst she worked out notice when she did give it again. :cool:

zaax

Sounds like any clients that have moved to the ex-employee will soon be back. In other words send all your clients ex or not a good Christmas present (as per normal this time of year) and take your remainging staff on a good Christmas bash, as all good companies do.