The Imporance of Non-Compete Clauses with Staff
by Karen Mullett, , Owner, Scuba Zone, Barberton, OH
Click here to read this article on our Flippingbook platform.
Trust is one of the most valuable and most vulnerable assets in any small business. Owners rely on their staff not only to perform their jobs well, but also to represent the integrity and reputation of the organization. When that trust is honored, it builds a strong and loyal team. When it is broken, however, the consequences can be deeply personal and professionally damaging.
For many years, my late husband and his business partner believed strongly in trusting their employees. They built the business culture around respect, loyalty, and the assumption that those who worked with them shared the same commitment to the success of the company. Because of that philosophy, they never required staff to sign non-compete agreements or similar protections. It simply didn’t feel necessary. The team felt like family, and the idea that someone might intentionally undermine the business seemed unlikely.
Unfortunately, experience eventually taught us a difficult lesson.
During our time in one specific location, we discovered that one of our most trusted instructors had been secretly undermining the business. This individual, someone we believed to be hardworking and loyal, had begun poaching customers from our store. Students who initially enrolled in classes through us were being redirected to continue their training privately with him. At the same time, he was selling them equipment independently through manufacturers who were supplying him directly.
The situation escalated even further. In one particularly shocking instance, he contacted a manufacturer of ours and claimed that he was in the process of purchasing our business. He requested that they create a new account under the name of his own store – using the same physical address as ours. Astonishingly, the manufacturer complied without verifying the information with us first.
Paid Advertisement
To make matters worse, he began to recruit our staff to join his new venture. In doing so, he spread misinformation about our company, suggesting that we were planning to close anyway. It was an incredibly frustrating and disheartening experience, and even now it can be difficult to revisit those events without feeling a renewed sense of disbelief.
What that experience revealed most clearly was how deceptive people can sometimes be when personal ambition outweighs professional ethics. A single bad actor within an organization can have a ripple effect, influencing others and creating division within a team. As the saying goes, one bad apple can indeed spoil the bunch.
When we first moved into that location, our instructional team was strong and robust. We had five or six instructors and two or three divemasters supporting the operation. By the time we ultimately left that location, the landscape had changed dramatically. We were down to just two instructors and no divemasters at all. Much of the staff had either left or been influenced by the turmoil surrounding the situation.
The rebuilding process was not easy. My late husband found himself teaching far more classes than he had originally intended, simply to keep the program moving forward. It required perseverance, long hours, and a renewed commitment to rebuilding the culture of the business from the ground up.
But adversity often clarifies priorities. To this day, I blame this whole situation for his untimely death at the age of 53.
Today, after the dust has settled and the business has moved forward, we operate with a different perspective. We have implemented stronger professional safeguards – including non-compete agreements – to ensure that the business is protected in ways it wasn’t before. At the same time, we continue to value trust, but we balance that trust with clear expectations and accountability.
Our team may be smaller than it once was, but it is stronger. We currently have three instructors whom I trust implicitly, along with two divemasters in training who represent the next generation of leadership within our store. The group may be small, but they are dedicated, capable, and united by the same passion for diving and community that built the business in the first place.
The experience taught us a powerful lesson: trust is essential, but trust must be supported by structure. Clear policies, transparent communication, and professional safeguards help ensure that good intentions are matched by responsible behavior.
In the end, while the experience was painful, it also strengthened our resolve. We rebuilt, we adapted, and we moved forward.
And sometimes, being small but mighty is exactly what a business needs to prevail.
Click here to read this article on our Flippingbook platform.
More from This Issue:
MARCH 2026 ADVERTISING PARTNERS
RECENT ISSUES
MAGAZINE TOPICS