alt Hacker NewsIn Germany your employment contract can have Vertragsstrafen, ie the contract can say that if you do something you need to pay a penalty even above and beyond damages.
But in any case, employment contracts are weirdly restricted in many places, exactly because lawmakers think workers are metaphorical babies.
You can have a look at contracts between equals to see that being able to restrict yourself is important.
> because lawmakers think workers are metaphorical babies.
To be fair, there's a long history of abusive employers, so it's wise to try to tilt the law in favour of the employee as otherwise they get exploited even more than usual. The nature of employment is typically skewed as employers will have a lot more power than the employees - that's why Unions were invented to try to redress that balance.
> You can have a look at contracts between equals to see that being able to restrict yourself is important.
There's an important distinction between restricting yourself and signing away inalienable rights. You can certainly agree to restrict your speech so as to not embarrass your employer or give away secrets, but signing away your right to liberty is different.