Whether you are preparing to hire your first employee in a new business or add to an already built out team of staff, you know that there may well be situations in which you need to share sensitive company information with your employees in order to empower them to do their jobs. While you always want to trust the people who work for you, it is important to be prudent and find ways to protect your business against having its confidential information inappropriately shared and used against it. This is what a nondisclosure agreement is all about.
Two elements to NDAs
Some people may think that a confidentiality agreement is meant to prevent parties from disclosing information. That, however, is only one of the things it does. A good NDA also prevents the recipient of business information from using that to their advantage and potentially against the company that shared it.
Employees and NDAs
Business may enter into NDAs with several external parties, but it is not uncommon to do so with one’s own employees as well. However, as the Harvard Business Review explains, some caution is advised here. Nondisclosure agreements should carefully avoid language that prevents an employee from disclosing illegal activities to authorities. Excessive term length and parameters that may go too far in preventing a person’s ability to get another job in their field should be avoided as well.
If you would like to learn more about when and how to use nondisclosure agreements with your employees that effectively protect your business, please feel free to visit the employer-employee contract page of our Florida employer and business law website.
