Conflict of Interest 3

[peppinu]

I work in a company that designs and manufactures auotomotive parts. I am in charge of CAD business administration.
About 18 years ago the company sent me for CAD training and since then I have been training all new designers in a particular CAD software.

There might be an opportunity to give training to another company which produces medical fittings.
Unofficially I was told that I cannot do this as I would be in a conflict of interst.

I intend to take this up with HR and most probably with corporate which is in the USA.
What is your opinion in all this?

 

[KENAT]

My guess is at least half the worlds population live in countries that have minimal workers rights laws.

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[patprimmer]

cvq

peppinus first post strongly indicates he is outside the USA as he suggests head office is in the USA.

It is therefore pretty safe to presume US law does not apply there so who knows what jurisdiction applies.

North Korea is also not the only place where dissidents disappear. Heck, it could have happened in China or the USSR not all that long ago.

I think it's probably about 100 years since such fears existed even in the USA. Coal miners in Pennsylvania seems to ring some sort of a bell. Also some guy called Hoffer seemed to get involved in violent and fatal IR disputes.

I certainly would not be surprised if certain employers could get away with murder in parts of Central and South America and much of Africa and maybe even Eastern Europe and parts of Asia.

Anyway lets presume his internet access precludes most regimes where employees could still disappear and KENAT took the extreme case for effect, that still gives us no idea of what IR laws apply in his jurisdiction.

There are actually several minor possible conflicts of interest.

1) Employees of the other company thsat you train may end up working in opposition.

2) You might be distracted from your current work or to exhausted to perform well.

3) You might be reducing your companies ability to sell your skills in this regard.

The positives for your company are:-

1) Their reputation may improve via recognition that their staff is considered so highly qualified, outsiders choose to use them for training.

2) While teaching, you also learn something.



Regards
Pat
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[peppinu]

In this little island in the middle of the Mediterranean, the company is considered one of the largest with just a little over 1000 workers.
Here employment laws are quite strict and an indusrial tribunal works well.
The scenario though is that since I am staff and am not in any union, things are pretty much, me against them.
In Malta there aren't many companies that do design work using the specific software we use so it is not something thatI can do full-time. However if a company needs training trainers from abroad has to come and JMW I know how much training costs; I sometimes fix training for other persons and it is in the region of GB 300 per person per day. On average I train 8 to 10 persons a year.
Another point against, is my age (50). I have an engineering diploma but for the last 18 years I am on CAD, up to the point of being a sort of hotline support for the company here and even abroad in our other offices.
At this point in time I think Kenat's advice would have to do.

 

[jmw]

Ah, Malta.... wonderful place to visit.
Yes, 50 is a bad age to go job hunting.
So by not allowing you to do this training the HR weanie has deprived you of some significant rewards.

It may be you have friends abroad in other offices.
I don't want to suggest you do anything to jeapodise (how the heck does spell check come up with Pseudopodia as a suggested spelling?) jeopardise your job but surely some one can put in a word for you? This is now in the open since your run in with HR. Maybe you do have some opportunities to make some waves.
Some of the points made here are relevant.


Pat,
I think your points are, for a rational logical thinking person a very long stretch but probably within the realms of HR weanie thought processes.
1) Since it is Malta, the most likely place they will find a job is with the OP's company (mind you, peppinu, might you not like working on medical devices for a change?)
2)there is no limit to the activities HR might ban on these grounds.

Actually, Pat, your number 1 is a very good reason for them to say go ahead. It means some one else pays for the training of potential future employees.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[btrueblood]

peppinu,

Do you have any contact with people you have trained, and have any of them worked up the corporate ladder far enough to be of some support?

Could the CAD reseller be the hirer for your services, i.e. could you get around the apparent conflict ("they make stuff, we make stuff, what if they start making the stuff we make" - I think that is the pointy headed HR weenie's thought process) by not being directly employed by the other company?

Lastly, "With all due respect but eventaually this is coming from corporate being an American." Um, are you trying to say that only Americans can be nasty people? Or are you trying to say "having a distant boss makes it difficult to appear to be a human being to him"? I'm guessing the latter; as you have had quite a bit of helpful advice from people from various countries on the North American continent here, unless you think we're all a bunch of jerks too?

 

[peppinu]

Btrueblood,
I have nothing against any particular race or religion and excuse me if I conveyed the wrong message. What I meant is that certain rules make sense in the States but not in other countries. As you said in the latter statement I feel like I am just a number on a payroll. Sometimes I feel that we are slaves and just because they are big we have to bow our head and accept whatever crap they give us. We even have to sign the "CODE" every year although it has not changed since 2008.

 

[HDS]

Tell the medical company you aren't allowed to give them the training as a contractor but you would be happy to go to work for them

Everywhere is different. I once saw a French policy manual that said you were allowed to take 3 months of to start your own business.

 

[jmw]

You know, it occurs to me that on Malta, finding a new job may be just as difficult for an HR weannie as anyone else.
Therefore the HR weanie will be as keen as anyone else to keep his options open.
And, if he were to want to move on or have to move on, he too might look to a similar company for employment.
SO maybe this is a case where the company that wants to get you to provide training might like to write to the HR weanie, ostensibly requesting his permission for you to do this, but effectively saying "if you don't you can forget ever wanting to work here."

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[patprimmer]

And they could sign of the request with "we have ways to make you talk", Opps, That would be the next major island North I guess.

Seriously.

Seriously, Malta is a very small place and by the number of Maltese born people I know in Australia, the opportunities must be quite limited and everyone would know exactly who talked to who.

BT

The further you are removed from someone, be it geographically or culturally, the less the chance that they consider your feelings, rights or circumstances and how you think or react to certain things or how their laws differ from your own.

To many Americans or Australians for that matter, I would think Malta is a far away place of which they have little knowledge beyond what they learned from Humphrey Bogart.

Regards
Pat
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[jmw]

"Dear HR weannie,
we believe in supporting the Internal economy of Malta and furthering, wherever possible the exchange of skills within our community. We recognise that Peppinu has attained a very high standard in his field with international recognition within your own company. We regret the necessity of bringing in some foriegner to conduct this training.etc etc."

I'm sure someone here can compose a suitable letter to send to the HR weannie that plays' to the HR weanie's sense of self importance but subtly hints and the horses head sleeping partner that is the alternative to allowing this opportunity.

I'd go further and suggest that if the company that wants the training were to understand the circumstances, that in a small community such as must exist the CEO's of each company probably play golf together or in the same chamber of commerce or whatever and can sort this out at the top.
Either way I am pretty sure there must be a way round this in the circumstances.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[patprimmer]

jmw

You mean something like

Dear HR person.

The reason it appears so dark and stinking at the moment is because you have your head so far..... ummm OK maybe that might be a poor start. ;-)

Regards
Pat
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