In today’s hyper-competitive global economy, talent is often your most valuable weapon. If you’re like most business leaders, you’re not above engaging in a little employee-poaching to improve your position. After all, if you can entice an MVP from another company to enlist in your ranks, you’ll deprive the competition of a key asset while taking immediate advantage of your new hire’s previous training and experience. Best of all, this kind of hiring is perfectly legal, right? Well, yes... except when it’s not.

There are two scenarios that tend to get companies in trouble when they woo workers away from a previous employer.

The first is hiring a new employee with the intention of gaining access to confidential information about another company.

The second is simply being sloppy about onboarding new hires and unintentionally allowing them to bring confidential data, knowledge, or methods into their new position.

If you’re wondering whether tapping into another company’s secrets via employee-poaching is really that significant a transgression, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

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