poach
verb [ I or T ]
uk/pəʊtʃ/ us HR, COMMERCE disapproving
to persuade employees or customers of another company to become your employees or customers instead:
poach sb from sth The company is considering a nationwide expansion after poaching a new chief operating officer from a rival restaurant group.
poach staff He is suing the rival company for damages of about £35m after they poached 27 staff from him earlier this year.
poach clients/customers Such data should help newcomers to poach customers from existing companies.
to take ideas that belong to another person, company, etc. and use them for yourself, especially in a secret and dishonest way:
Several unscrupulous IT companies are offering 'free' seminars on e-commerce to customers and then quietly poaching ideas.
poach talent
HR
to persuade very able and skilled employees from another organization to come and work for you:
Rival brokers have been sniffing around in a bid to poach talent.
poaching
noun [ U ]
The major firms have strong, legally enforceable clauses regarding poaching of clients.