Extreme staff contracting.

[KeiKo403]

The championships are a sport. The teams whom compete in this sport are businesses and are listed as such. Hiring employees is part of the business, no the sport.

[gshevlin]

This is not something i court is going to overtern as its a legally binding agreement.

It depends on which country you are employed in. The reason why Marcin Budkowski only had 3 months of "gardening leave" in his contract is that this is the maximum allowed under the law in Switzerland. In the USA, there are several states, most notably California, where non-compete and gardening leave clauses are to all intents and purposes unenforceable, since the courts regard them as an illegal restraint of trade. You can put those clauses in a contract, but best of luck trying to get a court to enforce them.
I regard it as only a matter of time before one or more employees challenges a gardening leave clause of 2 years' duration.

[Greg Locock]

You are aware that gardening leave and non-competes are not exactly the same thing? With gardening leave you are still a paid employee, just not working.

[dans79]

In the USA, there are several states, most notably California, where non-compete and gardening leave clauses are to all intents and purposes unenforceable, since the courts regard them as an illegal restraint of trade.

What cases specifically are you referring to? I'm in the tech industry in the USA and I'm aware of several non-compete related lawsuits filed in California involving major industry leaders such as Google and Amazon. As far as I'm aware none of them have been deemed unreasonable and in several cases things were settled out of court which usually means the hiring company paid the former employer some amount of money to make the lawsuit issue go away.

This really isn't much different than one race team paying to get a driver from another team that's still under contract. Everything's negotiable with the right amount of money in hand.

[Jersey Tom]

I would definitely fight that gardening leave in court. Getting paid your salary to just... not work - sounds heinous. Cruel and unusual punishment. Having all that spare time to catch up on your house upkeep, get out on the lake, do some travel to the coasts. I shudder at the thought. Anyone taking that route and digging their toes into the sand must hate themselves and yearn for the opportunity to get back to the grind of fluorescent cubicle lighting and writing C code against an ancient, decade(s) out of date McLaren API or dusting off whatever inherited Fortran or other simulation code base you've been dumped.

[Greg Locock]

Yeah, I've known two people on gardening leave. They had big fat grins on their faces. Neither were engineers. NCAs are far more common and far less easy to enforce.

[Zynerji]

I'd hate that kind of leave. Sure, 1-2 weeks would be great, but when the batteries are recharged and you must still stay disconnected, it would be an intellectual virus driving me mad.

I like Ricciardo's terminology of "getting stuck in". That's how I approach work.

[Phil]

This is almost unsportsmanlike, like putting your reserve driver in for the last half of the season, and next, because your star driver signed a for another team 2 years from now...

Gardening leave is a widely common concept, not only in F1, but many technology driven markets. It's there to protect the employer somewhat, in case an employee who was with the firm and helped develop crucial and unique technologies (that therefore belong to the employer) can not be taken at a 3 or 6 months notice when he decides to terminate the working relationship and take his knowledge to a competitor.

Imagine how the market would change if this concept did not exist a new aggressive competitor could just "buy" key engineers without gardening leave. Yes, this already happens - but because there's a gardening leave, the damage is smaller (as technologies evolve) and it gives the market somewhat of a stability.

And yes, if your current employer is preventing you from working at a competitor through a gardening leave clause, then yes, that employer will be paying your salary. That's just how it works.

[Jersey Tom]

I'd hate that kind of leave. Sure, 1-2 weeks would be great, but when the batteries are recharged and you must still stay disconnected, it would be an intellectual virus driving me mad.

I like Ricciardo's terminology of "getting stuck in". That's how I approach work.

Yeah, you'd think so - and there's some validity to this - but the pro racing industry can be a grind. There is no off season. It is flat out, 110%, all day, every day, every week, every year. It's easy for your batteries not just to drain down, but to overheat and melt and be in need of repair.

Even as a workaholic - I would gladly welcome a several month sabbatical. If nothing else just to travel and see some friends and extended family I haven't seen in years because there's so little time off, and even when you get time off it takes several days to unwind and be able to begin to enjoy some R&R.

[Zynerji]

R&R is just free time to think more about work. Money doesn't motivate me, being the best of all-time does.

[Greg Locock]

We'll see how that works out for you, grins. I had 3 months off for my honeymoon and didn't miss work one bit.

[Zynerji]

We'll see how that works out for you, grins. I had 3 months off for my honeymoon and didn't miss work one bit.

My wife is like me. Always game planning!

[gshevlin]

What cases specifically are you referring to? I'm in the tech industry in the USA and I'm aware of several non-compete related lawsuits filed in California involving major industry leaders such as Google and Amazon. As far as I'm aware none of them have been deemed unreasonable and in several cases things were settled out of court which usually means the hiring company paid the former employer some amount of money to make the lawsuit issue go away.
This really isn't much different than one race team paying to get a driver from another team that's still under contract. Everything's negotiable with the right amount of money in hand.

Yes, it seems to me that Renault should have negotiated with Mercedes for the release of the employees. However, the Budkowski affair might have led them to refuse to co-operate.

See this article from a CA law firm. http://www.callawyer.com/2017/05/non-co ... greements/
Short summary: most normal Non-Compete clauses in employment contracts in CA would be unenforceable. There are a limited range of exceptions.
As for "gardening leave", here is another link to a Bay Area lawyer in IT and tech. https://baytechlaw.net/2014/05/07/garde ... alifornia/
Short summary: gardening leave clauses in contracts along the "2 years of potentially doing Not Very Much" apparently being demanded by Mercedes are also likely to be deemed unenforceable by the courts in CA. Employers could possibly structure them in a way that makes them enforceable.

[Jersey Tom]

R&R is just free time to think more about work. Money doesn't motivate me, being the best of all-time does.

Well, I can only speak to my own first hand experience. But having been in and around pro racing for a decade now, I know exactly zero people who would say, "Oh yeah I have no need to unplug, disconnect from work and get away from it for a while." That's doing this stuff for real, going out and winning major races and championships. Zero people. Likewise those with zero financial motivation - having money to support a family, provide as best as possible, save and retire, are real constraints and considerations when switching from being a fan or having side hobby to making a career out of something.

What would be the undeniable best performance of all time? What's the objective? Win all races from pole on the way to a championship? Make the '98 Yankees look like a joke as far as how dominant your performance has been? Be better at your specific skill or domain than anyone before or yet to come?

It may not be achievable, but it's an objective we can strive for. However there are other teams, organizations, and individuals out there that may have a head start or advantage, or they may have more people, or get lucky and stumble on something, or what have you. So you try to find as many things as you can do to either catch up to them, or exceed and stay ahead of them by as large a margin as possible. The more you work the more you'll achieve - effort equals results. The thing is there's no such thing as getting all the work done. You can burn all your nights and weekends, work 60-80 hours a week every week all season striving for perfection, and still not complete every little thing you'd like to be able to do. But you can try it.

How will that go? It's not sustainable - something will give. So what, or how much, are you willing to sacrifice if you become obsessive about performance and being the absolute best?

Willing to sacrifice your relationship with your spouse? Arguments, infidelity, divorce - all very real things in the racing industry, it strains relationships when you're really going to top performance. How about ignoring friends and family, becoming reclusive as every hour of the day becomes work-oriented?

Willing to sacrifice your personal health? Sleeping less? Getting up that hour early to catch up on email and analysis, get a head start on a draft for a proposal, instead of working out and being physically active? Does having a drink after work to unwind and slow your brain down turn into two drinks? Three? Four? More?

These are all very real downsides and the ugly bit about being sucked into this stuff.

In a nutshell, if you're at a point where "R&R is just free time to think more about work" then you're not working hard enough, or certainly not as hard as other people you're competing against. And if you're not, then you'll fall short of being the best. It's unavoidable - at some point you've got to be able to unplug and get away from this stuff so you can maintain your sanity, personal health, relationships, etc.

[Ennis]

R&R is just free time to think more about work. Money doesn't motivate me, being the best of all-time does.

Well, I can only speak to my own first hand experience. But having been in and around pro racing for a decade now, I know exactly zero people who would say, "Oh yeah I have no need to unplug, disconnect from work and get away from it for a while." That's doing this stuff for real, going out and winning major races and championships. Zero people. Likewise those with zero financial motivation - having money to support a family, provide as best as possible, save and retire, are real constraints and considerations when switching from being a fan or having side hobby to making a career out of something.

What would be the undeniable best performance of all time? What's the objective? Win all races from pole on the way to a championship? Make the '98 Yankees look like a joke as far as how dominant your performance has been? Be better at your specific skill or domain than anyone before or yet to come?

It may not be achievable, but it's an objective we can strive for. However there are other teams, organizations, and individuals out there that may have a head start or advantage, or they may have more people, or get lucky and stumble on something, or what have you. So you try to find as many things as you can do to either catch up to them, or exceed and stay ahead of them by as large a margin as possible. The more you work the more you'll achieve - effort equals results. The thing is there's no such thing as getting all the work done. You can burn all your nights and weekends, work 60-80 hours a week every week all season striving for perfection, and still not complete every little thing you'd like to be able to do. But you can try it.

How will that go? It's not sustainable - something will give. So what, or how much, are you willing to sacrifice if you become obsessive about performance and being the absolute best?

Willing to sacrifice your relationship with your spouse? Arguments, infidelity, divorce - all very real things in the racing industry, it strains relationships when you're really going to top performance. How about ignoring friends and family, becoming reclusive as every hour of the day becomes work-oriented?

Willing to sacrifice your personal health? Sleeping less? Getting up that hour early to catch up on email and analysis, get a head start on a draft for a proposal, instead of working out and being physically active? Does having a drink after work to unwind and slow your brain down turn into two drinks? Three? Four? More?

These are all very real downsides and the ugly bit about being sucked into this stuff.

In a nutshell, if you're at a point where "R&R is just free time to think more about work" then you're not working hard enough, or certainly not as hard as other people you're competing against. And if you're not, then you'll fall short of being the best. It's unavoidable - at some point you've got to be able to unplug and get away from this stuff so you can maintain your sanity, personal health, relationships, etc.

To add to this, there is a growing wealth of research highlighting that what people deem as effort doesn't always equal performance, and of course this will vary from person to person.

My brain is tuned in to 'sprints' (hence why I'm posting here at 9am on a Monday morning). Even larger pieces of work I need to mentally break down in to smaller chunks. I like going close to 100%, then break. Close to 100%, then break. Others work at a more moderate pace but work longer.

Regardless of which one of these you are, everyone's brain needs to recuperate. At the time that your hard work starts eating in to rest, chances are you're not able to work as effectively as you could. If your work truly is your hobby then this gives you more time to work, of course, because you won't have the same taxation on yourself as if it was something you didn't enjoy - but start losing sleep and/or increasing fatigue? Becomes a false economy.