WHAT IF YOU CAN'T FIRE ANYONE?

The ability to fire people is a cheap and easy solution, and it actually disincentivizes employers from doing the hard work necessary to truly manage and develop talent

- Jeffrey Pfeffer & M Muneer

Does ease of doing business hinge on, among things, at-will employment policies? Did India modify its strong labour laws that protect employee interest for improving its ranking in the World Bank's ease of doing business report? Thankfully, the bank has paused the reporting for now on allegations of data manipulation, and to refresh the methodology.

The only country in the world practising at-will employment is the USA, where anyone can be fired without a reason - and the number of cases suing for wrongful termination is also the highest there. While the rest of the world has labour laws that are supposed to safeguard societal interests, employers there find ways to fire people at will, either by building a case or by creating a hostile environment forcing them to quit at their will.

The authors Buckingham and Goodall of the book, Nine Lies About Work, brought home some painful facts about people management. First, the state of people management remains poor. Prior to the pandemic, Gallup reported that the quit rate is at an all-time high: 67% of employees are disengaged at work, and more than half say they are actively looking for a new job. Second, HR lacks a commitment to evidence-based people management (evaluating a decision or policy with evidence such as data and peer-reviewed scientific research to ensure the desired result is achieved).

The HR practices that remain in use, notwithstanding the evidence against them like the forced curve performance evaluations, stem from one root cause: the ability to fire employees even if the laws are not in favour. Because of this, workplaces are prone to use counterproductive management approaches that evaluate rather than invest in and develop employees.

Adopting a growth mindset