The New Deal at Work: Managing the Market-Driven Workforce

The days of lifetime jobs and employee loyalty are over. Instead, competition and other market forces lead companies to lay off people, and employees to leave for the highest bidder, writes Peter Cappelli in The New Deal at Work. These changes in the workplace are making a salient impact on companies, employees, and the nation. For instance, companies are less likely to provide employee training and development, for fear employees will be poached by other firms. At the same time, companies are more apt to hire outside consultants than full-time employees, in order to stay competitive in a rapidly changing environment. This affects everything from national educational policy to employee morale to corporate management and payment principles, warns Cappelli, who is a Wharton School professor of management and codirector of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce. The book, well researched and filled with footnotes, provides historical perspective and insight for company leaders looking to manage the current economic reality. It's aimed primarily at managers, but anyone concerned about the nation's economic policies will gain some valuable insight. --Dan Ring