Are Top Employees Assets or Liabilities?
Are Top Employees Assets or Liabilities? Wednesday November 26, 2008#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) A week ago Monday, The New York Times business section ran an article entitled “Jettisoning Top Talent to Cut Costs.” The author, David Carr, wrote about Circuit City’s decision in March 2007 to respond to declining sales and increased competition by pink-slipping its most experienced and effective sales people in a drive to dump high-salaried staff. Great move. Now the company is bankrupt, largely because the resulting decline in the quality of customer service drove away yet more customers. Treating the best employees as liabilities rather than assets also killed morale among the remaining staff. This case study reminded me of my experience as a consultant at Touche Ross (now Deloitte) two decades ago. The firm, or at least its management consulting practice, had an up-or-ou
