One of my best guys is starting a business doing the same work we do very close to our area. They are doing weekend jobs that are bleeding into the work week. How does this hard converation look with them. How should I react.
Did you have them sign a non compete or non solicitation agreement during onboarding?
Non competes have no legal ground in most states. I don’t think you need to put steps in front of your employees following the same path as you did. Instead offer the assistance you didn’t have and allow them to show you what they can do with their own location.
I've had several former employees start their own cleaning businesses over the years.
Personally, I don't get too worked up about it. Most people see the cleaning part of the business every day, but they don't see the sales, marketing, hiring, payroll, scheduling, client issues, bookkeeping, compliance, and everything else that comes with actually running a company.
A lot of the time, they're out of business within a few months once they realize what ownership really requires.
For me, the bigger concern wouldn't be that they're starting a business. It would be whether it's affecting their performance, availability, or commitment while they're still employed by you.
If they're still showing up, doing great work, and honoring their responsibilities, I'd have an honest conversation about expectations. If their business is bleeding into the workweek and impacting their role, then that's a performance issue that needs to be addressed.
Support the ambition, but protect your business.
As mentioned, do you have a non-compete or non-solicitation agreement in place?
If not, I’d focus less on the fact that he’s starting a business and more on whether it’s impacting his performance, availability, or creating conflicts with your customers. The fact that he’s starting a company isn’t necessarily the issue. The fact that weekend jobs are bleeding into the work week may be.
I’d have a direct conversation about expectations and make sure there’s clarity around customer relationships, company resources, and work performance moving forward.
I agree with the point that many small start-ups fail once people realise the work is not just the trade itself, but also pricing, sales, scheduling, payroll, client management, insurance, compliance and cash flow.
That said, if he is genuinely one of your best people, I would also look at the retention side before making it purely adversarial. A strong employee usually starts thinking this way because they want more control, more upside, more recognition, or more say in how the work is done.
The conversation does not have to start as a hard one. I would separate the issues clearly: support the ambition, but set firm boundaries around availability, performance, client contact, use of company resources, and anything that affects your business.
If you value him, it may be worth showing that clearly before assuming the only options are confrontation or losing him.
