Extreme prejudice: Difference between revisions

Employment is not, naturally an equilibrium state.<ref>And nor should it be, though it is made (regrettably) more stable by labour laws.</ref> There is a sweet spot when master and servant both feel they are getting a reasonable return for their investment, but keeping to that sweet spot requires constant attention, the way navigating along a straight road still requires steering. In a perfect world one would do this by trimming and goosing salary expectations as circumstances change, but lord only knows it is not a perfect world.

Now you might be [[inclined]] to look at this and think, “well, still, this is a fine state of affairs: by pruning the truly dismal in job lots and letting the jumped-up and flighty go one at a time, we are nicely containing our costs within a tight range.”  

This would be true were you not obliged to replace those who leave. In an organisation big enough to have its own [[human resources]] department,<ref>We have a theory that the point at which a firm acquires its own dedicated [[HR]] function is the point at which it is ''too'' big, whereupon it begins its sure descent into sclerotic middle age.</ref> [[Parkinson’s law]] obtains: you probably ''don’t'' need to replace leavers — or at least ''wouldn’t'', if you could hang on to those few staff who actually got things done.  

And indeed, the operating theory for a reduction in force — honoured in the breach though it is — is that those put “[[At risk of redundancy|at risk]]” are indeed surplus to requirements and should not replaced. This is of course fatuous: most [[RIF]]s are a cheap way of trimming poor performers.

 

 

[[Lateral quitter]]s less so but,  All big organisations have more middle management staff than they need.

The first tool here is discretionary bonus. With this you can bring down cost and push the laggard into the safe zone. If you are flatlining on doughnuts, and you can’t figure out a way of redeploying said laggard, then have the conversation. Be clear, have it early.