Page 132 - Retaining Top Employees

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120 Retaining Top Employees

This so-called “lifetime” employment contract—hire compe-
tent people, pay them, they stay with you—was ideally suited to
the industrial age, when labor was (relatively) cheap, the work-
force was static, and economic cycles were longer and more
predictable.
However, over the last 15 years, the “lifetime” employment
contract has been rendered less and less relevant by demo-
graphic and economic shifts, primarily these five:
1. Increased employee mobility. It’s easier (and cheaper) for
an employee to relocate to a new job than 15 years ago.
2. Economic constraints. The boom-and-bust economic cycle
has made it impossible for organizations to credibly offer
“lifetime” employment.
3. The need for frequent upskilling. Reduced product cycle
times and increased consumer demand has made it less
likely that an employee’s skills set will remain relevant
and sufficient over time, thus reducing the employee’s
employability over the long term.
4. The move to a knowledge-based economy. In the past,
training (and therefore job security) was largely controlled
by the employer. The rise of lifelong learning and the
availability of distance learning have freed the employee
to pursue his or her own career development. As a result,
people are able to move from job to job with greater ease.
5. The rise of the portfolio career. As a result of demographic
and economic shifts 1,
3, and 4, employees
Skills set The knowledge,
today are much less
experience,and qualifica-
tions of an employee rele- likely to be looking for
vant to his or her job. Hundreds of a “job for life” in any
years ago,the skills set of a carpenter one organization (the
or a mason,for example,might not premise of the “life-
change much,if at all,over their life- time” employment
time.Today,employees must improve
contract). Instead,
and develop their skills set constantly
employees are building
to remain employable.
career portfolios con-