One of my former employers rolled these out for all new hires and tried to get all existing employees to sign. We had all already signed NDA's, so it seemed silly to add this to me.
The quid pro quo for existing employees to sign the non-compete (that covered the entire world as the geographic region, hilariously) was that they would promise 2 additional weeks of severance if they sacked you and you had signed it. You also could never get a promotion again if you didn't sign it . . . even a ladder promotion was considered quid pro quo for signing the non-compete.
Many people (maybe a quarter of the technical staff?) refused to sign and the company started losing those people pretty much immediately. But then within a year or two a funnier thing happened: people who had signed it, usually as part of the condition of their ladder promotion, also began leaving but they simply refused to disclose where they were going to work next. Most of these people were scientists, engineers, and technicians who spent their days tucked away in labs and cubes, so not exactly sales and marketing people who could be tracked via trade shows. Some were staying nearby but remained resolutely tight lipped about what they would be doing next, while others were moving to another state and wouldn't even disclose which state. I thought it was hilarious. Managers were outraged. Least effective way to keep people EVER.
That company culture was psycho, though. Glad I escaped!
