Wharton Chapter 18

To survive, firms must be alert to changes in people, both employees and customers.

As customers have added flexibility in their technology investments, they need also to provide flexibility for their human investments; the employees with company and domain knowledge in their heads and in their heads only.

One question brought up was an interesting one: How to companies retain employees who have become millionaires early in life? I don't know if there is much a company can do. If that person wants to continue to work in a structured organization, he will stay. If he wants to do what he wants to do, there's no stopping him from leaving. Even if you could retain that employee, what is his or her motivation to continue producing at a high level? They might have a nothing-to-lose attitude. Foruntately, I dont' think many firms really have to deal with this issue.

A big struggle for firms of smaller sizes is that many of the intricate pieces of company or product knowledge may only be in one person's head. What if he is hit by a bus? What if he is hired by the competition? The only real way around that is to have redundant people for every job function. It is very expensive and a cost most small businesses don't want to lay out. Maybe they don't even think that one of their employees might leave.

The work-life balance is very evident in my generation and upcoming generations. I also notice it more in the west than on the east coast which is essentially a rat race. Employees now have so many hobbies and interests that work responsibilities fall to a lower priority. They want time off, don't want to work 10-12 hour days, but want to accumulate wealth. While this is a growing trend, there will always be those workhorses who pull 65-70 hours a week and move up quickly in an organization. But that is getting harder and harder to find. Especially in the face of downsizing and outsourcing. Why would someone put in 65-70 hours a week for a few years in the hopes of a promotion, when the organization in its current form may not even exist in 2-3 years? Loyalty is nearly a thing of the past, both from an employee and from an employer's perspective.

I like the author's comparison of some employees being looked at as a "black box" or an undifferentiated piece of human capital who can be seen as mercenaries. Come in for a specific purpose or project, and then move on and offere services to someone else. Employers seem to be treating employees like commodities. Skill sets are now commodities that they can easily exchange with a new employee out there.