I am a developer in Southern California. I work on a consultant basis (would like to be an employee) for an NSC that wants to change our agreement. They now want me to sign a contract saying that I will not contact any NSC that they have a relationship with (they are expanding the term Customer from our original agreement to include NSC’s) for additional work when they do not have work for me. This will be in effect for three years after signing. I am new to consulting rather than being an employee. Does this sound fair to any of you? It seems like it would put me out of business if the NSC work dried up. What do you do? How do you get work? Is there enough work out there for developers?
Hi, I had such agreement. My advice is you should not sign it. If you are a new person for Navision you can sign such contract because NSC will provide you with knowlege you can use all your life. If you are experienced Navision Consultant NSC needs you much more than you need NSC. You will provide NSC with knowlege and information they need. You will own money for NSC. You are an asset for a company not an expense. They should feel lucky that they have you.
If you are doing work for the NSC, it is reasonable for them to want to limit your access to their customers when you are not working for them. But to limit your ability to work for any other NSC does not seem reasonable. If I felt I had any choice, I would not accept such an agreement. And if I were considering accepting the agreement, I would consult an attorney experienced in “non-compete” agreements first.
I don’t know how the things are in Russia but here in France, there have been some independant (not always official) Consultants and the ones that are still alive are quite appreciated by some NSC’s when they are experienced… I would not sign down this kind of agreement. Things are changing very quickly, you might be captured before the end of 3 years. My NSC has no problem to work with a nexternal consultant if needed (better for them than hiring someone)…
Terry : Do not sign! It’s like if a law firm would ask a lawyer that he should not work for any other lawfirms after he has resigned. I’ve been told that it’s ILLEGAL in Canada, it’s called restriction of trade. This practice may also be illegal in the US too (even if you’re not an employee but freelancing) …
Hi all, U all are lucky enough to be able to discuss about it & yet be able to decide about it. I recently have joined an NSC back in India.Signed a 3 year bond.Accepted a salary half of my last functional job paid me.As i really wanted a consulting exp.(Hv a look at my profile to understand better.) The point i wanted to bring to your attention is:What is the use of the bond in case the NSC is not having enough work?The topic has been correctly raised by Terry. It is as good as sharing their business risk.(& u don’t equally share the profit). The good( i am not sure of it) part of being a Navision consultant is that projects do depend upon availability of a License of the Developer.That is why the need of a Bond arises.IT is good as far as NSC has projects,& worst if work slows down. & If i am not wrong, Bonds are rarely legal anywhere in the world. Awaiting more interesting views.
Terry, if that company is paying compensation (at least 50% of your average salary) for this 3 years, go ahead and sign and have 3 year half (or more) paid if they do not want you anymore. That is common (at least in Europe) if they want to restrict your rights to work wherever YOU want. Otherwise, don’t sign. Regards Walter
This is a very interesting debate! As I do work as a independent consultant (freelancer) also, but I’ve never meet anyone who have required me to sign a exclusivity agreement while working freelance. And if I was asked so, then I would 100% sure say no. It would limit my freedom, and even if they would pay me a compensation. If I for three years could not work with Navision, then after this period my value would have gone done drastically! If I where you Terry then I would NOT sign this agreement, but instead say that you would sign a non-compete agreement. That is that you would not be allowed to work for current customers (both end-users and other NSC’s) that you, as part of you agreement with the NSC in question (let’s call it NSC-x), had done work for. So in example if you as a part of you NSC-x agreement had been assigned to projects for NSC-y, then you should not accept jobs or contracts for NSC-y in a period of 1 years after the project. I would say that this is an ok agreement even without a compensation. If they i.e. require a longer period, then I would ask for compensation from the company, i.e. that they pay your continued product education and tests etc.
Hi, My advice is NOT to sign this agreement. It puts all the risk on you and the NSC gets all the benefits. The major advantage of being a freelancer is the flexibility to choose whom you work for and which projects you accept and which not. By signing this agreement, you actually give up this freedom and become an employee - but an employee who (so I understand the proposed contract) doesn’t get any pay when the company hasn’t got any work for you. This is worse than working as an ordinary employee who gets his money no matter if the company has work for him, and may switch to another company at any time or when he gets fired.
quote:
Hi all, U all are lucky enough to be able to discuss about it & yet be able to decide about it. I recently have joined an NSC back in India.Signed a 3 year bond.Accepted a salary half of my last functional job paid me.As i really wanted a consulting exp.(Hv a look at my profile to understand better.) The point i wanted to bring to your attention is:What is the use of the bond in case the NSC is not having enough work?The topic has been correctly raised by Terry. It is as good as sharing their business risk.(& u don’t equally share the profit). The good( i am not sure of it) part of being a Navision consultant is that projects do depend upon availability of a License of the Developer.That is why the need of a Bond arises.IT is good as far as NSC has projects,& worst if work slows down. & If i am not wrong, Bonds are rarely legal anywhere in the world. Awaiting more interesting views.
Well… that means that after signing that bond if you’re not good enough for your actual NSC or they don’t get as much work as they need, you won’t be able of working in a different NSC without your previous one permission. In practical terms, it could mean that after giving you a three or four months trainment you can still be fired and not allowed to use that experience for a few years. Your case it’s also different in the way that you’re having a salary (the amount of the salary is a different thing). That means that no matter if you’re getting enough work or not you’re getting paid. When you’re in a consultant basis, the amount of work it’s really important, as if you’re not getting any work in two weeks you’re not getting paid in two weeks… and you’re still having to pay the bills… So if you sign a bond, it doesn’t mean that you’re only tied if your actual relationship with that NSC ends, but it means also that if they don’t give you enough work while working with them (let’s say they have enough work but they have 10 guys getting a salary and they prefer those guys doing the job instead of paying a consultant and those 10 guys…), so you just receive let’s say 10 working hours a week… well… that’s not really much time if you’re having to pay the prices of Camarillo… and they’re keeping you from working for other NSC’s for three years in that bond, so you’re having to live with 40 hours of work per month?? how much should you charge them per hour? If you sign that bond, make sure you get something worthy in return… if not, don’t do it… (example… if they offer you ten million dollars for signing that bond… well… what the hell are you waiting??? ) Regards,
Never heard that any company from Big Five consulting firms asked to sign contract that does not allow to work for there clients or even for other consulting firm. In contrary this is the most logical and common move for consultants. I would say this is industry standard. They try to keep people paying good salaries, providing training and guarantee for future. What do you get signing this contract? In general NSC will own your life. They do not need to pay you enough because they know that you can not accept work in the area where you live. You have to move and this is much more difficult decision.