An employee confidentiality agreement ensures that employees keep trade secrets and other confidential information private. It is not a sign of distrust, but rather a way to protect the company’s information from competitors. The agreement may include sections on duties, non-disclosure, property rights, and no warranties. It is important to have an attorney review the agreement and keep a copy for reference.
An employee confidentiality agreement is an agreement entered into between an employer and an employee. The agreement provides that you will retain all trade secrets, proprietary information, intellectual property and other confidential information that you become aware of in the course of your employment. An employee confidentiality agreement is not intended to show a distrust of the employee, but its purpose is to keep the employer’s carefully worded business information out of the hands of competitors.
In many companies, employees may come into contact with information of a sensitive nature. This could be something like a specially formulated recipe, an owner-created scientific formula, or sensitive customer information. If this information were to be provided to a competitor or otherwise given to outside parties, it could be used to compete directly against the originator or to injure other individuals involved. A confidentiality agreement signed by employees provides evidence that an employee has been advised of his or her responsibility to keep this type of information, as specified in the agreement, confidential.
Simply signing an employee confidentiality agreement does not prevent an employee from sharing trade secrets and other intellectual property with others. This information could still be leaked to outside sources. The importance of the document is that it provides evidence that the employee in question was aware of their responsibility to keep this information private. If it were ever necessary to take an employee to court over such matters, one of the first things a judge might want to review is the employee’s confidentiality agreement.
The agreement may contain sections devoted to duties, confidentiality to unauthorized personnel, property rights and no warranties. The “duties” could outline the specific duties for which the employee is responsible. The inability to share confidential information with unauthorized persons may be described in the “Non-Disclosure to Unauthorized Personnel” section. A requirement to transfer the rights to any product you develop while working at the company might be set out in a “Property Rights” section, and the provision that the agreement does not constitute a binding job offer might be covered in a “Property Rights” section. No guarantees”.
As with any legal document, an employee might consider obtaining the services of an attorney to review the employee’s confidentiality agreement. This could help ensure that the employee is entering into an agreement that they fully understand. He may also want to keep a copy of the signed agreement.
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