Non-Disclosure Agreements

“I know you’ve mentioned Non-Disclosure Agreements before but we’re really small. Why would we need one?”

My HR Survival Tip

Size of the company has nothing to do with Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). The whole point of the agreement is to protect your confidential and proprietary information.

Many companies that don’t create something think they don’t have any confidential or proprietary information… but they’d be wrong. If you don’t care if the world knows how you run your business and sees copies of your plans and methodology, then don’t bother with an NDA.

However, most of you claim to do things differently than your competition. So why don’t you see that as something to protect? Here are a few examples of information worth protecting:

• Your sales and marketing plans;
• Your vendor and customer lists;
• Your particular methods or techniques for doing what you do;
• And anything else you’re not ready to post on the wall.

NDAs should be created by an attorney to ensure they actually protect you. The courts have found language that is too general in some agreements is not valid simply because it is too general. A good agreement specifies exactly what you’re protecting.

You’ve worked hard to build your company. Why would you allow employees to walk off with information that could allow them to become a competitor or to be valuable to a competitor?