[Angostura]

I absolutely agree about the power of language to shape thought. But consider, whenever you've heard of company A poaching employee Y from company B, has it really subtly made you think of Y as a helpless object?

Whenever, I see it, I think of the two companies plying Y with enticements, with Y manipulating them until (s)he finally gets rich rewards with the new company.

[mikeash]

It doesn't make me think of Y as a helpless object. But it does make me think of A as doing something wrong. I strongly object to the term because it implies that companies shouldn't compete for employees, which pushes our salaries down.

[ghaff]

I think that's fair. After all, poach has literal meanings that apply to acts that are clearly wrong or illegal. In fact, if I look at the dictionary, you see words like trespass, steal, etc.

You do hear poach used colloquially or even somewhat jokingly when it's not intended to imply anything nefarious but the word does imply something underhanded.

[munificent]

> whenever you've heard of company A poaching employee Y from company B, has it really subtly made you think of Y as a helpless object?

Yes. If that wasn't what someone was trying to convey, why did they pick the word "poach" in the first place? The whole point of using that word is to evoke a metaphor where the hired employee is mere game animal ensnared by the company.

> I think of the two companies plying Y with enticements, with Y manipulating them until (s)he finally gets rich rewards with the new company.

"Hire" is a good verb for that.