
Ask HN: Non-disparagement clause a factor in choosing a company to work for? - chrisbennet
When evaluating a potential employer, it seems like knowing if they use non-disparagement agreements might be helpful. I never thought much about it until the other day.<p>I recently asked a friend about applying to a company he used to work for and he said &quot;Run away! Unless you are literally going to be out on the street...&quot; He proceeded to tell me about managers publicly berating (yelling at) employees for mistakes, their high turnover rate, etc.<p>None of that showed up on Glass Door because employees had to sign a non-disparagement agreement in order to get their severance.<p>If a potential employer has a policy of bribing people not to tell anyone about the bad things they do, that seems like something I&#x27;d like to know about.
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davismwfl
This cuts both ways, usually the agreements are bi-directional so they may not
disparage you either. And honestly this has been super common at the executive
ranks for decades, like many of the other agreements that have filtered down
to the average employees.

Outside of this though, there are always companies who abuse employees and try
to hide it, this is not new nor is it going to magically disappear anytime
soon. There are good companies that use these techniques to protect themselves
and their employees rightfully. This is because there are a large group of
people that are quick to lash out and embellish stories about a company which
can be highly damaging, affecting dozens or even hundreds of lives. I am sure
you have worked with at least a few of those types of people. It of course
cuts the other way, where the company is a total loser and abuses their
employees and tries to use this and other techniques to hide their bad
behavior. And that is just as horrid and immoral.

In the end, just as your friend did, most times the news gets out about the
abusers and people will get the message not to go there which will affect the
company and in the end it can be terminal over time. Usually these companies
get caught up in litigation eventually that either does them in or winds up
with the effect of cleaning out their executive ranks.

As for should you take a job at a place that uses them, that is a personal
choice and you should review the company and ask around in non public ways
(e.g. not the internet). People are people, and information will always get
out. In my opinion, it is not rare for senior positions to have these
agreements so I am totally comfortable with them, assuming they are bi-
directional. Uni-directional is out of the question and would be a massive red
flag.

Also remember, that none of these agreements covers illegal behavior, so if
you saw them doing something illegal like dumping toxic waste and reported it
or quit then reported it, they'd have little recourse against you. It doesn't
mean they couldn't sue you, but they wouldn't get anywhere as long as you were
accurate. Same goes for if you were stealing from the company and they found
out after you quit, they could turn you over to the authorities and the
agreement wouldn't protect you. Again you could sue them, but the outcome
would be you'd lose.

