和沆瀣一气的年代说再见 | 经济学人社论

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The clue is in the name

顾名思义

英文部分选自经济学人20220114期社论版块

America’s trustbusters plan to curtail the use of non-compete clauses. Good

喜闻乐见：美国反垄断机构计划限制竞业禁止条款使用

The clue is in the name

顾名思义

Three-quarters of Americans who work, do so for a firm. They have contracts setting out their pay, holiday, benefits and sometimes the appropriate way to dress (although not in journalism). A lot of contracts also say whether employees may work for a competitor if they leave the company. It is hard to know what share of American workers are restricted by these non-compete clauses, but the available evidence suggests it may be as high as one in five. More worrying, these clauses are as likely to apply to workers operating deep-fat fryers in fast-food kitchens as they are to workers operating in the conference rooms of white-shoe law firms. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has these clauses in its sights, on the grounds that they are anticompetitive and suppress wages.

在美国，每四个劳动者中，三个会签下劳务合同，为某个公司卖命。合同上会载明他们的工资、假期、福利，有些还会规定着装风格（新闻行业除外）。很多合同也会明确员工离职后是否可以为竞争对手打工。受到此类竞业禁止条款限制的美国劳动者不知凡几，但现有证据表明，这一比例可能高达五分之一。更令人担忧的是，被竞业禁止条款捆住手脚的不只有老牌律所会议室里的精英，还有快餐店厨房里的油灶工。美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）已经盯上了这些条款，因为它们会抑制竞争、压低工资。

Fans of non-compete clauses argue that scrapping them by decree will invite the state into the realm of private contracts, a symptom of regulatory excess. They have a point, but the FTC’s case is stronger.

竞业禁止条款的支持者认为，通过法令将其废除会让政府把触角伸进私人合同领域，而这是监管过度的表现。他们的说法不无道理，但联邦贸易委员会的理由更加有力。

It is easy to see why firms like non-compete clauses, which are designed to suppress competition. It suits companies to be able to prevent a star employee from joining a rival, or starting out on their own and wooing clients. But there are also some arguments that non-competes could serve the public interest. Companies sometimes say that the clauses incentivise them to think about talent in a longer-term way. Why bother to spend time and money on training employees if they then join rival firms that go on to reap the benefit of the investment? Some companies also have legitimate worries about trade secrets walking off to a competitor when an employee leaves.

竞业禁止条款为抑制竞争而生，企业们对其青睐有加，其实不难理解：这些条款可以防止明星员工转投竞争对手，或是创业单干并带走客户。但也有人认为，竞业禁止条款符合公众利益。一些企业表示，竞业禁止条款有助于他们以更长远的视角培育人才。毕竟，一旦员工跳槽，公司在他们身上的投入就都便宜了竞争对手，又何必花费时间金钱培训他们呢？有的企业也担心员工离职后，商业机密会落入竞争对手手中。这样的担忧倒也合情合理。

However, a non-compete clause is a heavy-handed way to achieve those ends. Intellectual-property law and non-disclosure agreements exist to preserve true trade secrets, and lots of firms find ways to keep valuable employees without shackling them to their jobs using non-compete clauses. The public interest also conflicts with the firm’s interest: innovation and productivity spread when better ideas about how to do things become widely adopted. Hiring people with specific knowledge and experience can speed this process up, which is one reason why the engineers fired by tech giants like Meta and Twitter are sought after by firms in older industries eager to learn.

然而，要达到上述目的，完全不需要祭出竞业禁止条款这样粗暴的手段。知识产权法与保密协议的存在就是为了保护真正的商业机密；许多企业也通过上枷板之外的方式留住了有价值的员工。公共利益与企业利益也有冲突：更行之有效的做事方法被广泛应用，会在更大范围内促进创新、提高生产力。聘用具备专业知识与经验的员工可以加快这一过程，这就是为什么被Meta、推特等科技巨头扫地出门的工程师会受到求知若渴的传统行业企业的追捧。

注释：

spread: to affect or make sth. affect, be known by, or used by more and more people

If the theory points in one direction, the evidence from how non-competes are used practically screams. In 2014 Jimmy John’s, a chain of sandwich shops, was found to have inserted a two-year non-compete clause in its employees’ contracts which barred them from seeking employment with any rival business that made money by “selling submarine, hero-type, deli-style, pita and/or wrapped or rolled sandwiches” within a three-mile radius of where they currently worked. After this egregious example came to light, the company ended the practice. But franchises often stop employees from going to work at other outlets of the same franchise, reducing their bargaining power.

如果说上文还只是理论分析，竞业禁止条款在现实世界的应用则是将这一点展现的淋漓尽致。2014年，三明治连锁店Jimmy John's被发现在员工合同里加入期限两年的竞业禁止条款，禁止员工转投工作地点方圆三英里内任何销售“潜水艇三明治、英雄三明治、熟食三明治、皮塔三明治、包装三明治或三明治卷”的竞争对手。这一性质恶劣的案例被曝光后，该公司不再这般操作。然而，很多特许经销店都禁止员工跳槽其它网点工作，这削弱了员工与资方议价的能力。

It strains credulity to argue that these workers are the guardians of trade secrets. Instead, the evidence is that firms use non-compete clauses to drive down wages by lowering the value of workers in the job market. About half of people with non-compete clauses in their contracts work in states where they cannot legally be enforced. They may get away with it because employees do not know their rights, especially those in the low-paid part of the labour market.

竞业禁止条款是为了防止员工泄露商业机密？一派胡言！恰恰相反，有证据表明，不少企业利用竞业禁止条款贬低员工在就业市场上的价值，从而压低员工薪资。各地法律法规不同，有一半的竞业禁止条款根本不具备法律约束力。然而用人单位常常得以瞒天过海，因为很多员工（尤其是领着微薄薪水的的员工）并不知晓自己的权利。

The evidence that non-compete clauses really make companies more innovative and higher-skilled is scarcely more convincing. Washington state, home to Amazon and Microsoft, takes a middle path by restricting non-compete clauses to the contracts of high-earners. California, the global hq of disruptive innovation, goes a step further and bans non-competes altogether. The FTC should do the same, on the grounds that they are anticompetitive.

竞业禁止条款能让企业更具创新精神和技术实力？这一说法同样缺乏令人信服的证据。亚马逊和微软总部所在地华盛顿州走的是折中路线，即规定只有高收入群体的合同才能包含竞业禁止条款。作为全球范围内颠覆性创新的集大成者，加利福尼亚州走得要更远：该州全面禁止了竞业禁止条款。联邦贸易委员会理应跟进，因为竞业禁止条款同样也是竞争禁止条款。

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