Poaching | Imamother

amother

Tue, Nov 04 2014, 1:46 pm

Hi Ladies,
I was having a discussion with DH and brought up the concept of "poaching" someone else's cleaning help, babysitters, nanny etc. I explained it as scoping out someone else's employees and offering them more money in order to lure them away to work for you. DH didn't see the problem and thinks it's horrible to essentially keep a worker's wages down by not allowing for competitive pay/hire. I agree that a babysitter or cleaner who is denied a raise should of course take a job with better pay or benefits but I still think it's not ok to poach a friend or neighbor's help! I think it's a major faux pas and would be very upset if one of my friend's approached my babysitter on the playground and tried to 'steal' her. I know, obviously the babysitter is a human being and I don't think I own her in any way; it's my friend I would have the problem with. Any thoughts?

Kitten

Tue, Nov 04 2014, 3:25 pm

Of course you can. But your friend might not be so thrilled that you "stole" her babysitter.
Why do you want to poach her babysitter? Because she is really underpaid, is not happy with that and your friend clearly could pay more? This is fine. But if your friend can't pay more and everybody is happy, it is not very nice of you.

zaq

Tue, Nov 04 2014, 3:33 pm

There's nothing illegal about it, of course--but just remember that what goes around comes around. Poach your pal's help today and someone else will poach yours tomorrow. Difficult as it may be to find good help, friends are not so easy to grow and cultivate. I know what I would think of a "friend" who poached my help, and I think you know what I would think of her, too. Do you want to be that person?

It's different if the help advertises that she's looking for another position. In that case, hey, she was looking for a reason, and if you hadn't hired her someone else would have. But to approach her with the intent of "stealing" her from a friend? Huh-uh. Don't do it.

Why not ask her if she has any friends or relatives looking for a job?

morah

Tue, Nov 04 2014, 3:44 pm

Poaching is considered very poor form. Obviously people should treat their employees with respect and pay them what they're worth etc. And of course employees have the right to take a better position if they find one. That doesn't make poaching right when it happens. The poacher is essentially relying on the other person's time, money, and effort spent finding the right person for the job and training them in. You want a good, honest, hard worker, you need to buck up and go through the hiring process like everyone else, difficult and inconvenient as it may be. And by the way, this isnt just with household help, this is with all work settings. It's not illegal or anything, but considered very bad manners.