Silicon Valley giants Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit and Pixar have enterered into an agreement to not attempt to poach one another’s staff as part of a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
The companies are now prohibited from soliciting one another’s employees.
The competition for highly skilled engineers among these firms – four of whom have operations in Ireland – is intense, and there have been accusations of cold calling and other attempts to lever away engineering talent.
Some of the companies – for example, Apple and Google – already have agreements in place not to directly solicit one another’s employees.
However, none of the agreements prevented hiring one another’s employees altogether. For example, Google has admitted hiring hundreds of employees from the other companies via LinkedIn, job fairs, employee referrals and when the workers themselves approached the company.
