Chinese instant messaging and online game company Tencent, which is currently in a dispute with a number of its ex-employees over non-compete clauses in their contracts that are allegedly invalid, has published a corporate citizenship and social responsibility report to celebrate its tenth anniversary.

The report covers five areas: independent intellectual property rights; promoting the healthy development of the Internet industry; creating social values; caring for employees and customers; and public welfare initiatives. The report paints a rosy picture of the status of the company's staff training, corporate culture, internal governance, and information security. However, the dispute over non-compete clauses suggests that in some areas of human resource policy and practice Tencent may well have room for improvement.

Tencent recently confirmed to local media that the company has formally sued 15 former employees who are suspected of violating non-compete obligations in their work contracts. The employees counter claim that since no special compensation was paid in respect of the non-compete obligations in their contracts, then any such restrictions are invalid.

According to lawyers quoted in local media reports on this issue, non-compete agreement are divided into two categories. For senior management staff on high salaries, there is an obligation to observe a non-compete agreement and the company does not necessarily have to pay compensation. For lower-level staff, the company should pay compensation to make the non-compete agreements valid. However, different cases require their own dedicated detailed analysis because each case can be different.

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