Conflict of Interests
A colleague and myself met a very interesting person yesterday who had a business idea which he feels has potnetial. My colleague and I agreed!
We would like to exploit it externally, rather than, from within the company, though that creates difficulties. If we were to do so it would put has in contravention of our employment contracts which state we cannot have outside interests.
What we have decided to do is progress the idea in an exploratory way and then make a decision once it has become clear what the actual potential viability of the project is.
There are a number of related issues for me from an Asperger perspective. Firstly, is this "dishonest"? Secondly, can I fully trust my colleagues?
I would be interested to hear if anyone has been in a simialr situation and if they learnt anything from the process?
Conflict of interests
This is a difficult one Malcolm and I think there are no hard and fast rules. I assume you are not a Director , because if you are I think the rules are tighter. I am not going to attempt to give you a lawyers answer but just to share some personal reflections which may not be applicable directly to your situation.
Firtly I think you should avoid doing anything could sound like running or planning to run another business from work . In most organisations this would be classed as dishonest . So have your exploratory chats outside of work time and not on the premises. Secondly think carefully about the extent to which you might end up competing with your employer or using their IPR.
Regarding your colleague I am happy to have a private conversation with you if that would help .
T
Playing it Safe
Just to round this one off.
We have decided to keep it all in-house and go through the company in the first instance. Its probably safest and it will give us a chance to test the field.
If this one comes off we can always take others outside.