#22: Keep the Competition Low
During the 2000s, it is said that some major tech giants, including Google, Apple, Adobe, and Intel, engaged in a controversial practice known as “gentleman’s agreements.” These secret pacts involved an unwritten understanding among these corporations not to actively recruit or hire each other’s employees.
While officially presented as an effort to maintain a stable job market and avoid aggressive salary competition, critics viewed these agreements as anti-competitive and detrimental to employee mobility and income growth. The practice eventually led to legal challenges and settlements, highlighting the complex and sometimes contentious dynamics within the tech industry during that period.