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on June 10, US local time on Thursday, the software giant Microsoft announced that it would no longer enforce the non competition clause (NCC) except for senior managers, and most ordinary employees could freely change jobs to competitors such as Google and Amazon

many companies use NCC to prevent employees from moving to companies that are considered direct competitors. Although it is understandable to include these terms in the contracts of senior managers, they have been criticized as being too strict for low-level employees and making people subject to more unfair restrictions

Microsoft has enforced these terms in some employee contracts, but the company said that from now on, the company will delete similar terms in ordinary employee agreements and will not enforce existing terms in the United States

Amy pannoni, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, and Amy Coleman, Microsoft's vice president of human resources, wrote on their blog: "we have heard that the non competition clauses in some American employee agreements conflict with our employment principles, even if they are implemented in rare and reasonable circumstances."

these restrictions will still be applied to the company's senior management, such as partners, general managers, vice presidents and higher-level executives. In theory, however, ordinary employees are no longer barred from looking for jobs in any company regarded as a competitor of Microsoft. Large technology companies such as Amazon, Google and salesforce are often regarded as Microsoft's main competitors

Microsoft's move is in line with the current trend. More and more companies no longer use NCC in contracts. NCC has been restricted in a few states in the United States, including Microsoft's home state of Washington. There, NCC is not suitable for employees earning less than $100000. In July this year, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order urging the US Federal Trade Commission (SEC) to restrict or prohibit the use of NCC to encourage greater labor mobility

in recent years, Microsoft has faced many accusations because of its toxic corporate culture. It is only one of the four reforms recently announced by Microsoft to no longer adhere to the non competition clause. Other reforms include plans to abolish some confidentiality agreements in settlement or resignation agreements, conduct civil rights audit on its existing work policies, and promise to provide the salary level of all internal and external recruitment work

among them, in the plan to improve the salary transparency of recruitment advertisements, Microsoft promised to publicly disclose the salary range in all internal and external recruitment advertisements in the United States by January 2023 at the latest. In May this year, Microsoft raised employee salaries and stock compensation to retain more employees

activists believe that hiding the income information of job seekers and potential colleagues will increase the existing gender and racial pay gap. A study by reed, a British recruitment company, found that concealing salary details and using words such as "competition" would reduce the likelihood of people applying for jobs. Provide more information for women and people of color so that they can obtain higher salary and a fairer competitive environment through negotiation

Colorado, Nevada, Connecticut, California, Washington and Maryland all issued state-level salary transparency regulations. After the new legislation came into effect last month, employers in New York City must include salary information in job advertisements

Microsoft said that the purpose of these reforms is to "further deepen the relationship between us and our employees and strengthen the workplace culture". Pannoni and Coleman wrote: "Microsoft is always evaluating the experience of employees and listening to their opinions to determine what changes we need to make to meet their needs and alleviate their concerns." (small)