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| First Person |
The Firing Line
Alan L. Sklover
08/02/2004
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Employers continually surprise me by their general aversion to
commitment. They will claim, “We do not grant employment contracts; our
employees are all at-will. They’re here only as long as we want them to be, and
not a moment longer.” Would you want the primary supplier of your most critical
resource to be tentative or, instead, trustworthy? Would you prefer that your
most important customer be loosely affiliated with you or firmly connected? Then
why be so hesitant and so apathetic to your most precious business assets?
Instead of using handcuffs, penalties and threats, you might clarify your
company’s reporting structure, institute rolling, two-year commitments and
define a clear understanding of compensation ranges—and then put each of these
on paper. Employees without a sense of permanence do not heavily invest
themselves into their positions, either. Afterall, no one changes the oil in a
rental car.
You can achieve effectual, sophisticated risk management in
hiring and firing by treating your employees—especially those who represent
significant, unique value to your organization—as you would your most important
supplier or your most lucrative customer. You must develop a long-term approach,
and share both the rewards and risks of the relationship. There is simply no
better way. Otherwise, I, and others like me, am always lurking
about.Alan L. Sklover, an attorney based in New York, makes his living helping senior executives circumvent the legal restrictions employers
place on their freedom to find other employment. He argues that we can avoid
these sorts of legal challenges and retain our best staff if we make the
same type of commitment to our employees that we demand of them.
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