Taking (potential) customer contact details to new employer
Discussion
I work in sales and am working my notice period. In a little over a month I will be joining a competitor.
My current employer knows it is a competitor but have not put me on garden leave.
What's to stop me taking a USB flash-drive and filling it with contact details for customers and potential customers who I can contact from my new role?
Physically, nothing stops me. But legally are there reasons I cannot do this?
My current employer knows it is a competitor but have not put me on garden leave.
What's to stop me taking a USB flash-drive and filling it with contact details for customers and potential customers who I can contact from my new role?
Physically, nothing stops me. But legally are there reasons I cannot do this?
If the company you are leaving find out, you can be charged of Data Theft.
Not only that, if the new company use that inforrmation knowingly (ie you plug said USB into one of their PC's and put the information onto their Hard Drive) they too can be prosecuted.
It also falls foul of the Competition Laws.
As they know you are leaving to move to a competitor they are probably monitoring you anyway if they feel you are a threat to them.
Dont use a Digital Device. Use the business cards or contacts you have in another form (pen and paper etc) as thats personal information.
Good luck in the new role!
Not only that, if the new company use that inforrmation knowingly (ie you plug said USB into one of their PC's and put the information onto their Hard Drive) they too can be prosecuted.
It also falls foul of the Competition Laws.
As they know you are leaving to move to a competitor they are probably monitoring you anyway if they feel you are a threat to them.
Dont use a Digital Device. Use the business cards or contacts you have in another form (pen and paper etc) as thats personal information.
Good luck in the new role!
CoolCurly said:
If the company you are leaving find out, you can be charged of Data Theft.
Not only that, if the new company use that inforrmation knowingly (ie you plug said USB into one of their PC's and put the information onto their Hard Drive) they too can be prosecuted.
It also falls foul of the Competition Laws.
As they know you are leaving to move to a competitor they are probably monitoring you anyway if they feel you are a threat to them.
Dont use a Digital Device. Use the business cards or contacts you have in another form (pen and paper etc) as thats personal information.
Good luck in the new role!
Thanks - So a paper list of people I know and their contact numbers, and the date their current contracts expire would be fair game?Not only that, if the new company use that inforrmation knowingly (ie you plug said USB into one of their PC's and put the information onto their Hard Drive) they too can be prosecuted.
It also falls foul of the Competition Laws.
As they know you are leaving to move to a competitor they are probably monitoring you anyway if they feel you are a threat to them.
Dont use a Digital Device. Use the business cards or contacts you have in another form (pen and paper etc) as thats personal information.
Good luck in the new role!
Munter said:
Are they your contacts? Or are they the companies contacts?
e.g.
Do you own that data? Or are you stealing it?
That's not to say you can't spend an evening connecting to every client on linked in while you're still employed.
A little of each, it depends how it is defined. They're people who I have met, or been introduced to, as an employee of my current company. They all know me as their contact here and wouldn't ask "who?" if I called them and said "Hi it's romeogolf". But they know me as "romeogolf, account contact at Company".e.g.
Do you own that data? Or are you stealing it?
That's not to say you can't spend an evening connecting to every client on linked in while you're still employed.
Grey area? Or clear cut that it's not my data?
What does your contract say? Pretty much any data, contacts made whilst working for the company are owned by the company not you (unless you retained IP somehow) so you could be in trouble - especially if a loyal customer rang up your soon to be old employer and said you were trying to poach them.
Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
Ive been in sales for over 20 years, and many of my customers have moved with me from place to place. Fair game.
However all of their contact details are stored in my personal phone as contacts. My last move I had a leaving contract to say I was not to contact a list of a few large customers for 6 months. On 6 months and a day everyone of them were called and Im back doing business with them. in those 6 months between I made some more customerfriends to add to the collection.
Sales people move about. Just dont be downloading information or date from your current employer.
However all of their contact details are stored in my personal phone as contacts. My last move I had a leaving contract to say I was not to contact a list of a few large customers for 6 months. On 6 months and a day everyone of them were called and Im back doing business with them. in those 6 months between I made some more customerfriends to add to the collection.
Sales people move about. Just dont be downloading information or date from your current employer.
ozzuk said:
What does your contract say? Pretty much any data, contacts made whilst working for the company are owned by the company not you (unless you retained IP somehow) so you could be in trouble - especially if a loyal customer rang up your soon to be old employer and said you were trying to poach them.
Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
I'll double check this evening, but I don't believe my contract mentions anything about the subject. In comparison, my new employment contract specifically outlines non-compete clauses and restrictions if I leave the role.Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/20/nda_cloud...
interesting read, no idea how solid a legal basis but I'm just an IT bod
interesting read, no idea how solid a legal basis but I'm just an IT bod
ozzuk said:
What does your contract say? Pretty much any data, contacts made whilst working for the company are owned by the company not you (unless you retained IP somehow) so you could be in trouble - especially if a loyal customer rang up your soon to be old employer and said you were trying to poach them.
Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
This sums it up pretty well, plus the article linked above which refers to the Data Protection Act implications.Lots of people still do it and take the risk though. the real kicker is if you agreed to any special non-compete terms in your contract as this would suggest a readiness to take action.
As ozzuk says, plenty do take the risk (seems particularly prevalent in sales and recruitment).
ozzuk said:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/20/nda_cloud...
interesting read, no idea how solid a legal basis but I'm just an IT bod
interesting read, no idea how solid a legal basis but I'm just an IT bod
Not sure how this would sit today but back in the 70/80's my Dad kept all of his contacts on a rolodex. It was his personal rolodex and he took it from company to company with him being head-hunted every couple of years. An ever growing client list. Eventually he ended up working for the same company he had worked for several years previously but his rolodex was worth a lot more then than it had been before!
He wasn't making one-2-one sales but he was negotiating contracts under which sales would be made. Not so sure you would get away with it now. My B-I-L ended up in court over something similar, but he (rightly) won.
He wasn't making one-2-one sales but he was negotiating contracts under which sales would be made. Not so sure you would get away with it now. My B-I-L ended up in court over something similar, but he (rightly) won.
Edited by 21TonyK on Wednesday 5th July 15:51
swerni said:
Are you asking if theft is okay?
Also I suggest you read what your contract has to say about company property and any terms in restraint of trade.
The fact you'd post this on a public forum is quite astonishing
No, I am asking if it's theft. Also I suggest you read what your contract has to say about company property and any terms in restraint of trade.
The fact you'd post this on a public forum is quite astonishing
There is nothing in my contract about company property (other than physical items being returned such as my phone and laptop) and nor are there any terms about restraint of trade or any restrictions on leaving. If there were, I wouldn't need to ask.
But thanks for the patronising response, useful!
OP
(1) Quite a bit of the advice that you have been given here is wrong. Kudos, however, to the couple of posters who have called you out on your dishonest plans.
(2) I could give you some advice that would not be wrong, but I prefer to confine the giving of pro bono advice to honest people. An honest person would not contemplate what you are contemplating.
Perhaps your employer will sue the arse off you, you will get a massive costs bill, and you may then learn a lesson about business ethics.
(1) Quite a bit of the advice that you have been given here is wrong. Kudos, however, to the couple of posters who have called you out on your dishonest plans.
(2) I could give you some advice that would not be wrong, but I prefer to confine the giving of pro bono advice to honest people. An honest person would not contemplate what you are contemplating.
Perhaps your employer will sue the arse off you, you will get a massive costs bill, and you may then learn a lesson about business ethics.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 9th July 15:20
swerni said:
If you can't work out it's theft then you deserve more than just being patronised as you're clearly an idiot
^^^^^ This.A question for those who think this sort of thing is OK. If you ran a company, and one of your staff did what the OP is talking of doing, would you think it all fine?
Many posts in various sections PH convey the impression that those sturdy company directors who love their white Audis, superbikes, and so on have pretty sketchy moral standards. I suppose it must be crappy parenting, or the me society, or whatever.
The relevant principle here was exemplified in an 1895 case that is still cited and applied on a weekly basis in the High Court -
https://www.scribd.com/doc/90775773/Robb-v-Green-1...
The relevant principle here was exemplified in an 1895 case that is still cited and applied on a weekly basis in the High Court -
https://www.scribd.com/doc/90775773/Robb-v-Green-1...
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