I dislike noncompetes as much as the next guy, but I’m worried if made illegal, firms would silo junior quant hires even harder. Working some problem in isolation with zero context for overall strategy. Not a great way to learn.
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Make all non-compete paid. If your IP is valuable enough for a non-compete, it's valuable enough to pay for it. Up to six months you pay pro-rata salary. More than six months you pay pro-rata salary + previous year bonus.
Another idea - employee has the option to zero the non-compete period if the employer terminates the contract. Lots of ways to make non-competes serve their purpose in finance without overly restricting employees.
