A significant and substantive difference between the Boston area and Silicon Valley is the corresponding treatment of non-compete agreements. Massachusetts is relatively aggressive in supporting non-compete agreements, and favors former employers at the expense of former employees. In contrast, California holds non-compete agreements to be unenforceable.
Non-compete agreements have become anachronistic, and are not needed to create and grow great companies. Indeed, the data in previous posts indicates that non-compete agreements significantly curtail company development and job opportunity.
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The data in previous posts is disappointing and depressing. By any measure, the Boston area has lost a good deal of its innovative stature. However, understanding the data should provide a reason for optimism, because if we have objective measures, then we can begin to address the actual underlying problems and root causes. The reason [...]
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In an earlier post, we described a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that stated that the concentration of high tech jobs in Silicon Valley relative to the overall U.S. increased during the period of 2001 to 2008. This measure of relative concentration is called location quotient (LQ). The BLS report did not [...]
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In the CNBC special “Inside The Mind of Google“, aired December 4th 2009, Noel Gorelick, the lead engineer on the Google Astro Project, said: “If you are 24 and single, it is kind of like programmer nirvana.” … “I used twelve text books in my courses [for my masters in computer science]. Ten of the guys that wrote those text books work here [at Google].”
This anecdote answers one question that has emerged in the past several months in discussions of reinvigorating innovation in Massachusetts — how to keep more of the area’s graduating students in technology fields from leaving Massachusetts.
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Here is a pointer to my testimony today before Members of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, In Support of Eliminating Employee Non-Compete Agreements. Plus pointers to additional information regarding non-compete agreements. Branko Gerovac. 2009.10.07. Testimony before Members of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development, In Support of Eliminating Employee Non-Compete [...]
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