Google continues to pay former employees. Targeted non-compete agreements are behind this: they aim to prevent former employees from directly moving to competitors. However, this also blocks former employees’ futures, as time in AI development passes incredibly quickly.
According to a report, quoted by Business Insider, DeepMind employees can earn an entire annual salary based on various factors without doing anything.
Aggressive non-compete agreements are a tool that technology companies want to leverage to gain a competitive advantage. When an employee signs such an agreement, they commit not to work for a competing company for a certain period. And this is exactly the opportunity that Google is heavily exploiting in the AI field.
Non-compete agreements are well paid but may harm employees
Here’s what Google is currently doing: Google DeepMind has reportedly put some employees who signed a non-compete agreement on an extended leave of absence: employees who leave their jobs, for instance due to resignation or otherwise ending their employment, are instructed to stay away from work during the notice period. Nevertheless, they remain on the company’s payroll and receive a salary during that time.
Two former employees who spoke with Business Insider said that six-month non-compete agreements are common among DeepMind employees. Other senior employees, however, have received a one-year non-compete agreement. In Germany, this is also referred to as a post-contractual non-compete agreement.
During this time, employees, although officially not working, continue to be fully paid by Google. With the non-compete clauses, they aim to prevent former employees from moving to competitors and passing on their knowledge. Google itself explained to the magazine:
Our employment contracts meet market standards. Given the sensitive nature of our work, we selectively use non-compete agreements to protect our legitimate interests.
What’s the problem with that? In the past, it always sounded tempting to receive full pay while not working at all. But in the fight for key personnel in the AI field, such clauses suddenly become high barriers. After all, who wants to hire someone if they have to wait a full year?
Particularly in the age of AI, where things can develop within days, that is a very long period. Insights gained may already be worthless after just a few weeks. Especially startups looking for employees are not willing to wait months to hire someone. One former DeepMind employee explained:
It’s becoming increasingly unpopular because there are a lot of cool startups that aren’t willing to wait six months or longer, causing people to miss out on some good opportunities.
The difficulties became known when Nando de Freitas, Vice President of Microsoft AI and former DeepMind Director, reached out to DeepMind employees complaining about notice periods and non-compete agreements via X.com.
The founder and former CEO of Google believes that his former employees should work 60 hours a week to achieve Google’s goals: a universal AI, which many companies are already working on: Google founder urges employees to work 60 hours a week: “That’s the perfect way to win the AI race”
