The Latest from the Prospect

According to a story in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the announcement from the FTC that it’s proposing to ban noncompete clauses in employment contracts has apparently compelled employers to rethink how to keep their workers from going to the competition or opting to start up a shop of their own. "It’s changing the environment that employers have been comfortable with in the last number of years," one attorney who, the Journal said, "advises companies on employment matters" told the paper.

It’s knotty questions like these that send CEOs scurrying to find the keenest legal counsel, never mind the stratospheric fees. Summarizing the approach beginning to emerge from the white-shoe firms, the Journal reports that the following body of thought is starting to gel: "Limitations on the clauses will compel employers to get more creative about how they retain talent, using everything from pay to career advancement to keep workers engaged and loyal." In the words of one such counselor whom the Journal interviewed, "If you want to motivate people and have them happy to stay, you have to look at compensation, the overall environment, how you treat them."

Raises! Promotions! Heating in wintertime! Towels in the restrooms!

Who knew?