Restrictive covenants and confidentiality provisions: The trend continues…

Tessian (a cloud based email security platform) undertook a survey of 2,000 employees in UK and US businesses. The results (published earlier this year) show the following:

• 55% of workers surveyed were considering leaving their jobs in 2022
• 29% of employees surveyed admitted taking data from their employer
• 39% are currently working their notice or actively looking for a new job in the next six months
• 71% of IT leaders surveyed believe ‘The Great Resignation’ has significantly increased security risks.

The most common reason for taking data, cited by 58% of respondents to the Tessian survey, was that the information would help them in their new job.

All the more reason to consider whether your business is sufficiently protected…THINK:

• Are your employment contracts robust enough? Do they contain properly drafted and appropriate restrictive covenants? They need to be “reasonable” and protecting a legitimate business interest.
• Do you have appropriate training, policies and procedures in place?
• If you suspect there has been a breach or have clear evidence of a breach of restrictive covenants and/or confidentiality provisions – act swiftly. There can be a myriad of issues flowing from such a breach including financial damage, reputational risk, data breach and privacy issues. You should obtain specialist legal advice as soon as possible.

How we can help

Our team of specialist lawyers is experienced in successfully advising clients throughout the entire process of business protection from drafting restrictive covenants and obtaining interim injunctions through to enforcing injunctions and taking matters to trial. Our lawyers understand the process and recognise that each situation has its own specific circumstances and commercial realities. They have the experience to be able to discuss the various options with you and the likely outcomes.

Please get in touch with Gwendoline, Nick or Jack if you need any advice or assistance.

Have you seen…

…our recent webinars as part of our Restrictive Covenant and Confidential Information series?

Watch out for…

…our upcoming webinar (scheduled to take place later this year) which forms the next part of this series.

Details to follow but please feel free to email us to register your interest.