The new social contract for employers (Friedman)

December 1st, 2008  |  Published in Business, Quotes, Work  |  3 Comments

If there is a new social contract implicit between employers and employees today, it should be this: You give me your labor, and I will guarantee that as long as you work here, I will give you every opportunity—through either career advancement or training—to become more employable, more versatile.

—Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat (2005), p. 292.

Like what you see? Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Responses

Feed
  1. Travis Seitler says:

    December 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 am (#)

    I agree with him that this “should” be the case, but I doubt we’ll ever see much of it. Humanity is so bent toward short-sighted self interest and gain at others’ expense (which is to say, sin) that such a concept will probably only catch on among employers who see “what’s in it for me” if such an approach were adopted.

    For example: factories and distribution warehouses have an incredibly high turnover rate. Speaking from firsthand experience, I’d say it’s due to exploitative, abusive employers (or at least middle managers) pushing employees until they snap. But all they see is a constant stream of new hires who probably aren’t worth investing in (because they’ll likely be gone in 2-3 weeks, anyway). The irony is that, were management to take the approach Friedman suggests, they’d keep far more people… and they’d be happier, more productive employees, too.

    Of course, there’s also the bottom line to keep in mind: the longer someone is in your employ, the more you’re expected to pay them. There’s a financial incentive for employers to push all but a few out the door and bring in “fresh meat” for the more basic work.

    Then the trade unions get established to protect the employees, but they can end up putting so much pressure on the employer that the abused become the abusers—which only serves to widen the gulf between the two and make it nearly impossible for either party to want to look out for the others’ best interests.

    So… do we just let those remnants of the industrial revolution die off (as they’re slowly replaced by automated processes overseen by engineers and mechanics), or is there a way to convince those “bad bosses” on the factory floor that such a social contract is in their best interests?

  2. Travis Seitler says:

    December 3rd, 2008 at 7:49 am (#)

    Hmm… I obviously wrote that first paragraph “BC” (before coffee). Take #2:

    [S]uch a concept will probably catch on among the majority of employers only once they can be made to see that “what’s in it for me” is better than what they get out of the current model.

  3. Pedro Jimenez says:

    December 4th, 2008 at 12:17 am (#)

    Joshua,

    A quick note to let you know I love your blog.

    Thank you,

    Pedro.

Leave a Response