The answer varies. You can often poach employees with no risk to yourself or your business, so long as there are no valid non-compete agreements in place. Whether passive candidates or active job seekers, employees will look for new roles with companies they recognize. Often, it's challenging to get far enough outside of your sphere of influence for some hiring practices not to be considered poaching. While some state laws and regulations might put a damper on poaching, the vast majority of the time, they will take no legal action. Neither company is likely to pursue legal action over a single employee. Poaching typically only becomes a problem when one company embarks on a dedicated campaign to destroy a competitor by poaching all of its top talents.