The system needs to be broken. What works well is paying and treating employees well enough so that they do not want to leave and go to a competitor, like businesses in California have to do.
There are only a handful of traders and PM’s at successful firms that make such high comps.
The compensation of rank and file employees are quite similar to working in tech but are encumbered with huge risks following termination of employment. The firms I have worked at apply non-competes down to administrative employees who aren’t even involved in the business and have no valuable proprietary knowledge.
For employees whose residency status is tied to employment, these non-competes can result in having to leave the country.
For those with families, they are unable to pursue their primary profession and lose healthcare coverage or pay massively increased premiums.
You don’t understand the population these agreements harm or understand the effects they have.
> The system needs to be broken
Why?
I personally wouldn’t mind a 6 month NY hedge fund style gardening leave each time I switch to a different job.
The opposite, here in CA you can switch jobs at will because noncompetes are illegal. That's the primary reason I can't imagine working anywhere else.