Melina Murray

Managers and HR Pros.

Do you ever arrive at work with fresh bagels or muffins for your team/company “just because”?  

Have you ever surprised a hard-working team at 2:00 with tickets to a movie for all?

Perhaps you have just surprised them with a “It’s 2 pm, time to go home today.  Thanks for all your amazing work.”

As a manager, have you shared 24/7 duties with staff during the holidays so they can have family time too?

As an HR person, do you wander the office and talk to people?  Ask questions, learn about what they do, what they want?  (In a friendly way?)

Do you sometimes do things just to make someone’s day a little brighter?

This was news to me recently.  It has been a long time since I worked with a company with less than 10 people, so recently, when I needed to find health insurance for such a company, I was not too optimistic.

Then I got a surprise.  Some insurance companies are now offering affordable (yes, I said affordable) coverage to companies with 1+ employees.  

And- the cost is much less than COBRA.  Cool.  

I am finally back in the blogging world!  After a (too) long break due to extensive travel, I realized that not only have I neglected my blog, I have a lot to say.  So, I will start with non-compete agreements.  

I don’t like non-compete agreements. 

While I understand the premise behind them, I find them to be controlling, restrictive and detrimental to a person’s professional growth.  Companies come and go, they grow and shrink- especially in technology (and, well, banking these days).  Using the threat of not being able to get a job in the same industry to retain an employee is the worst kind of retention.  

In addition, many non-competes are written so broadly, it is almost impossible to figure out what kind of job with what kind of company is possible. And while very broad non-competes are generally thrown out in some states, the fact a person would have to sue (and pay for the suit) to find a comparable job is astounding.  And then there is the idea of enforcing a non-compete with a laid off employee.  I don’t get it.

While I am not in favor of non-competes in general, I do understand and appreciate the need to protect a company’s intellectual property.  There are other ways to protect the information, and there are ways to write a non-compete that doesn’t prevent a person from making a living doing what they do best in a place they can grow, enjoy their work and contribute to the company’s success (assuming that is not with their current company).