A comprehensive and insightful look at the modern workplace and how
employees are managed, where the new approach is driven by the quirks of
financial accounting to the detriment of employees and the long-term
success of the organization.
Real wages have stagnated or declined for most workers, job insecurity
has increased, and retirement income is uncertain. Hours of work for
white collar employees have increased steadily, opportunities for
advancement have withered, and evidence of the negative effects of
workplace stress on health continues to accumulate. Why have jobs gotten
so much worse?
As Peter Cappelli argues, these issues are not a result of companies
trying to be cost effective. They stem from the logic of financial
accounting--the arbiter for determining whether a company is maximizing
shareholder value--and its fundamental flaws in dealing with human
capital. Financial accounting views employee costs as fixed costs that
cannot be reduced and fails to account for the costs of bad employees
and poor management. The simple goal of today's executives is to drive
down employment costs, even if it raises costs elsewhere.
In Our Least Important Asset, Cappelli argues that the financial
accounting problem explains many puzzling practices in contemporary
management--employers' emphasis on costs per hire over the quality of
hires, the replacement of regular employees with "leased" workers, the
shift to unlimited vacations, and the transition of hiring
responsibilities from professional recruiters to more expensive line
managers. In the process, employers undercut all the evidence about what
works to improve the quality, productivity, and creativity of workers.
Drawing on decades of experience and research, Cappelli provides a
comprehensive and insightful critique of the modern workplace where the
gaps in financial accounting make things worse for everyone, from
employees to investors.
