Let’s think for a minute about so-called “stay-or-pay” arrangements for employees, where an employee agrees to stay with their employer for a certain period of time, or pay a penalty…
Author: Richard Hadden

Being a Harry Truman Boss
President Harry Truman was, according to his White House staff, a great boss. Let’s see what he did that we can emulate to get the same kind of Discretionary Effort…

Can We Resume the Beatings Yet?
The war for talent is far from over. Employers who relax measures to attract and retain the best talent will fall behind their competitors for talent.

RTO Mandates: How to Make Recruiting and Retention Even Harder
Let’s get right to the point. Consider two groups, A and B. Group A: Knowledge workers who want the option to work remotely, or hybrid. Group B: Managers who want…

People Need the Right Tools to do their Best Work
Southwest Airlines’ winter 2022 meltdown was a failure of tools, a failure of systems. And it was almost as bad for their employees as for their customers.

What Elon Musk is Proving About Leading People
OK, I know Elon Musk is as easy a target as we’ve ever had. But if you will, please allow me this irony-laced observation: The person with more access than…

Where did all the workers go? The last four reasons there don't seem to be enough workers
In the first three installments of this series (July 12, Sept 12, and Oct 25), we tried to shine some light on the headscratcher of the year, “Where did everyone…

Where Did All the Workers Go? Three More Reasons There Don't Seem to be Enough Workers
The gap between labor supply and demand continues to vex US employers, even as talk of recession and high profile layoffs pepper the news. And yet as we move into…

Quiet Quitting - The Latest Thing (That's Been Around Forever)
Maybe it’s the alliteration. The fact that it makes a catchy hashtag. Whatever it is, talk of #quietquitting just won’t seem to quit, quietly or otherwise. We’ve delayed our weighing…

Where Did All the Workers Go? A Lot Retired.
Where did all the workers go? Answer #3 in the series: People retired in droves. Way more than anyone expected. More than half the people who voluntarily withdrew themselves from…