Keep up to speed with technology! – Protect your business contacts

In the modern business world, contacts are often a business' most valued asset – even more so for the recruitment industry.  New business opportunities (and securing your existing clients and candidates) depend on your team's connections.  It takes time to build these relationships and contacts so you need to protect them!  An employee who leaves will be looking to take advantage of the contacts they have built up during their employment.

The risks are increasing…LinkedIn (and similar networking sites) effectively act like a 'professional' facebook where business contacts can be uploaded very easily and quickly.  A LinkedIn profile is also personal to the employee, so they will take this profile on with them when they change employers.  This increases the risk that anyone who is leaving will try and raid their old employer's contacts – they could try and exploit these for the benefit of a new employer (or even their own business).

So what can be done to protect your contacts?  It is really important to have a term in the employee's contract that specifically deals with this issue – as they say "prevention is the best cure"!  Taking action later against a former employee who has used confidential information can be very expensive and not commercially viable.  Employers should ensure a clause is included in all employment contracts allowing them password access to go through an employee's contacts (and delete any) just before they leave.  This is especially important as an employer cannot 'shut down' the employee's LinkedIn profile (the contract is between the employee and LinkedIn only).  The contract can also require an employee to sign a promise they have not taken any contacts, with the employer withholding any final payments until this is received.  Further, any restrictive covenants should cover such networking sites and a good social media policy is essential..

Protecting your key contacts and similar confidential information is very important to the future of your business.  Make sure you are in the best position to protect your connections and prevent anyone from pinching them.  The last thing you need is an ex-employee trawling through his old work's contact list of clients trying to poach them!  You need to isolate the old employee, get your new guy in, and schmooze those clients/candidates asap!