Right folks, here is my predicament, I am employed by a very large company, great terms, fantastic pay & bonuses, I am pretty much able to do what I want in the place and no one has ever questioned (in a bad way) what I do (headhunted). I have a team of nearly 80 people under me and in any of my reviews I have been told I am held in very high regard by the CEO. All sounds good so far.

Well then, as I am easily bored and want to always better myself, I decided to setup a web based company a few years back and have since started two others. Between these companies two are extremely profitable while one is still in it's infancy and is teetering around the break even point, but should do so my the end of 2011. Before you ask I only put a few hours into these companies a month and never on my employers time as I employ one person full time to do any admin work pertaining to them.

Anyway, I was just called into the Head of HR's office for a "meeting" and she stated that she has heard I have outside business interests and that it is not acceptable. She claimed that as my employer payed me a salary, I was obliged to work solely for them and not share my knowledge with anyone else.

I explained that in no way was there a conflict of interests between anything I did in my FREE TIME nor was I using any company materials so I didn't see a problem. I also pointed out that there are many people that I work with who have multiple properties and they chew up work time either trying to rent their properties, talking to the bank, sorting problems for tenants etc. so why aren't they all being dragged in for a bollocking. Not to mention people that play the markets or choose to invest in other bits and pieces.

By the time the meeting was over I was lead to believe that if I was to continue what I am doing then the company would take action against me. Does anyone know if they can do this? Or can I just ride it out like a prick and tell her to fuck off like I want to. I suppose could always stand down as a director and let family members take those roles but I just don't want to.