TLDR at the bottom.
For a little over the last year and a half, I’ve been working as a copywriter for a digital marketing agency. They have about 50 clients, 30 staff in Florida, and about 70 staff working remotely from a few states as well as places like Mexico and the Philippines (so they can be paid less).
Oh, and I should probably mention that I was their ONLY copywriter for all these clients and, after three raises bumping me up a considerable amount from my starting pay, was barely making $45k.
I will say though that I really enjoyed the creative work and made friends with everyone I worked with, and genuinely saw myself there for the foreseeable future.
But then, this week, my CEO (completely out of the blue) hands everyone in the company within the US a Non-Compete Agreement, stating that if we leave the company, we’re unable to work anywhere in the marketing field for two years within the entire United States.
The list of what was considered “Prohibited Activity” was absolutely exhaustive too, covering nearly every facet of marketing work (copywriting, managing social media ads, Amazon store designs, etc.) He also let us know that if anyone signed and broke the agreement, he would come at them with his entire legal team to enforce it. Finally, he tells us we have a week to sign, and if we refuse, we won’t be employed anymore.
Now, I figured this NCA was too broad to really be enforceable, but the fact that I’m in Florida, a state that heavily favors employers with this sort of thing, and the fact that they do business with clients all over the US just made it feel way too risky.
After wrestling with this decision for the week, yesterday I delivered my resignation and walked out. Since then, several others have quit and more have reached out letting me know they intend to quit instead of sign as well.
Oh; and I already have another opportunity lined up. No company should be able to tell you where you can or cannot work!
TLDR: Marketing agency tried to get everyone to sign NCA’s forbidding them from working anywhere in the US for two years after employment. I quit and started a mass exodus of fed up employees.