You don’t need me to repeat the story. The Coldplay kiss cam captured the zeitgeist earlier in July.
And nor do we need to dwell on the specifics of their relationship, which are not confirmed. Whatever was going on eventually resulted in the resignations of both parties and a statement from the employer reading: “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”
Moving on from this story, while office romances are the spark for many successful long-term relationships, they also have the potential to blow up in everyone’s faces. And they can certainly be bad for business. There may be issues of power imbalance, consent, favouritism, harassment and toxic culture.
Too often, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) have been used to cover-up shoddy or even criminal behaviour. In the UK, this may be about to change.
Will Labour ban some forms of NDA?
Covering up sexual harassment in the workplace has been proven to be a very real intention of some NDAs. Any neutral would recognise the moral repugnance of such tactics, and it is also clear that when someone has “gotten away” with it once, it may be seen as a handy tool to continue their abuse of power.
Sexual harassment is not the only underlying factor where this is an issue. Settlement payments and associated NDAs (whether explicitly called that or not) can be used to mask entrenched discrimination within organisations: Paying people off for their silence when they have been illegally discriminated against.
This has rightly brought such use of NDAs into the sights of the Labour government, already keen on pummelling employers. In this case though, if they can get the legislation correct, it would be welcome.
If, as an SME you have such issues where your temptation is currently to go for an NDA, a better long-term solution would be to address your underlying problems.
Fair use of NDAs for SMEs
NDAs are not all bad though! SMEs can be a hotbed of creativity or entrusted with sensitive personal or commercial information for the clients or customers they serve.
So whether it is the proprietary recipe behind your hit dish, an innovative engineering solution awaiting patent or sensitive mental health information about clients, there are some things you must fight to protect!
An NDA is one of the tools at your disposal to do this. It is something you should ensure is done properly though for it to be effective. This includes: Being specific about what is covered; outlining the precise obligations; detailing how long the NDA will be effective and any break clauses prior to this; and what happens if a party breaches the terms, and the legal consequences and costs etc.
These may cover employees, suppliers and advisers. To have confidence in your NDA, always take advice first and ensure it is professionally drafted.
Beyond NDAs
Being such a buzzword, it is easy to get caught up in NDAs and forget that there are other good practices you can follow to protect commercially sensitive information.
As an employer and business owner think broadly: Good IT systems and cyber security, strong recruitment to pick trustworthy staff, a well-drafted contract of employment with a restrictive covenant, regular training that sets expectations, robust internal controls like having a need-to-know-basis mentality for anything sensitive and physical security like restricted access and appropriate CCTV.
Back to romance, and the Coldplay kiss cam proved that private workplace relationships can become very public. But, increasingly, NDAs will not be the way to hush them up.
