Emily Stewart covers business and economics for Vox and writes the newsletter The Big Squeeze, examining the ways ordinary people are being squeezed under capitalism. Before joining Vox, she worked for TheStreet.
You’d think that when a job is over, it’s over. You quit or you’re fired or laid off and then that’s that. Except that’s not always what happens. A lot of the time, even after you’ve cut ties, your former employer maintains some control over what you can say or do. It’s like a toxic ex you can’t warn anyone about because they might sue you, and who gets a say in who you go out with next.
It’s true that at the current moment, swaths of workers are more in the driver’s seat than they have been in years, thanks to a hot labor market that’s driven wages up, provided some people mobility, and given workers more leverage against their employers. But work hasn’t changed as much as some more optimistic headlines might suggest, and many of the fundamental power dynamics remain.
When you take on a new job, it’s often still a my-way-or-the-highway situation with your employer, and not just while you’re working your 9 to 5. Once you leave, companies have mechanisms such as non-compete clauses and non-disparagement agreements that make your post-work life a little bit harder. Much of the time, they don’t enforce those mechanisms, but the threat that they might gives them power.
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