When dealing with staff augmentation contracts, you need to work with a qualified attorney who can clearly articulate the terms of the relationships the contracts codify. Temporary onsite tech staff can be privy to sensitive data, processes, and technology. So you must protect your intellectual property, proprietary technology, and company interests as a whole.

Using a Contract to Protect Proprietary Technology and Trade Secrets

Companies spend millions of dollars on trade secrets and proprietary technology development. If that information were to become public, it could result in massive economic harm.

That is why it’s essential that your contracts include a non-disclosure clause prohibiting staff from revealing or sharing such information. Your contract should be very specific in what can and cannot be disclosed.

Including a Non-Compete Clause in Your IT Staff Augmentation Contract

Some companies will include a non-compete clause in their contracts. This type of clause prohibits an individual from working with a competitor during their time with your company and even for a certain timeframe after your business relationship ends. This prevents former temporary employees from sharing (intentionally or unintentionally) sensitive information after going to work for a competitor.

A non-compete clause must clearly articulate what constitutes a competitor, either by name, by industry/specialty, or by geographic region. This portion of the contract should also specify a reasonable timeframe for the non-compete prohibition.

It’s important that this section of your contract is realistic and reasonable. Otherwise, it may fall into the realm of “unenforceable” in the event that you were to take the matter to court. For instance, a judge would be extremely unlikely to enforce a contract that prohibits a software developer from working for any other tech company for a period of 10 years. Conversely, a judge may be very willing to enforce a contract that has a non-compete clause that prohibits an employee from working for a specific, direct local competitor for a period of 12 months after the business relationship concludes.

Non-compete clauses can be quite useful for protecting your company’s data, processes, and other in-house knowledge that could be acquired by a temporary team member.

Protecting Your Company from Vulnerabilities and Breaches

Tech companies face the challenging task of preventing breaches and limiting vulnerability. This becomes exponentially more challenging as you add more employees. And don’t forget about all of those new devices, constantly evolving technologies, and an ever-changing realm of hackers, viruses, malware, and bots.

For this reason, it’s important that you have a contract that spells out your company’s bring-your-own-device policies, along with any requirements or restrictions surrounding hardware, software or procedures. This will ensure that the temporary team member does not introduce any new vulnerabilities, which could be very costly to your company.

Finding the Right Temporary IT Staff

Connecting with the right temporary tech staff can be a tremendous challenge in this hyper-competitive business environment. Many risks can be mitigated by finding individuals who are honest, ethical and well-compensated. This is precisely what you’ll get when you trust your temporary IT staffing to iTech, as we specialize in staff augmentation for tech companies and tech departments across the nation.

We compensate our talent at a very competitive rate and work aggressively to ensure that we find team members who are committed and ready to meet your needs. Contact iTech today to find IT staff to suit your precise needs and requirements.

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