"I quit"

American workers are putting themselves first

“I quit”

Lots of people are quitting jobs.

Most say they like the new job better, are earning more, and have better opportunities for advancement.

It’s no surprise, really, as we’ve been teaching employees for forty years “don’t trust the company.”

Looks like they’ve gotten the message.  Saying “I quit” when a better opportunity arises is the smart thing to do.

“You used me!” “It’s all about the bucks, kid.”

From Bud Fox in the movie Wall Street to IBM breaking lifetime employment to crypto company tech bros jettisoning workers by Zoom and text message, American firms have made clear - we are not going to be there to support you when times get tough.

In the US system, a company is not your family.

It’s not your friend, it’s not your confidant, buddy or pal.  

It’s a Delaware C corporation with a profit motive and an earnings target.  Never forget that.

Because if you’re able to help hit that earnings target, you’re welcome on board.  But if you’re not - or your division, team, or business is not - you could be on the sidelines as early as tomorrow.

It’s cutthroat.

Surprisingly, though, when companies are cutthroat, American workers do better.  Our ‘heartless’ system ends up paying more and giving more opportunities to workers than systems that claim to be worker-friendly.

More workers are quitting than ever before.

The reason Americans have bigger houses, bigger cars, higher incomes and more technology in their daily lives than typical workers in Europe is that the American system is more efficient at turning your hours into dollars.  All these decades of focus on profitability have made American companies the champions of figuring out how to get the most out of your time spent.

And that higher productivity means that on one hand, companies can afford to pay you more for your work, and on the other hand, charge you less for what they produce.

In addition, the American system encourages you to put in more hours, so that you get even more value out of the system.

How can such a cutthroat system turn out to be a workers’ paradise?

Well, the lifetime employment system it replaced wasn’t that great.  Lifetime employment was popular in the 60s as your employer hired you right out of college and carried you through to retirement.  

If you want to see what that looked like in practice, look at the careers of the P&G CEOs.  These are the typical “company men” - A.G. Lafley, Bob McDonald, David Taylor, and Jon Moeller - who rotated through businesses, countries, brands, and functions at Procter & Gamble before landing at the top spot thirty years into their careers.

In this system, the company personnel department was as much responsible for your development and growth as you were.

You might start in sales, and then be put in finance or marketing or manufacturing, depending on where the company needed you.  They’d also factor in what was going to broaden your experience.

Each new assignment meant you were getting a broader, deeper view of the company’s inner workings.

Sounds dreamy until you realize that this meant you were not your own person.  You were a company person.

And if the company told you on Friday you were moving to Milwaukee, or Munich, you had better be on the flight by Monday.  Your spouse could catch up later.

As a creation of the 1960s, lifetime employment was birthed from the experiences that those 60’s’ CEOs had in the command-and-control management structure of the armed forces in World War II.

It had won the war, so why not apply it to managing the company?

In the 21st century, we feel it’s obvious that people shouldn’t have to move countries, change fields, or swap roles unless they want to, but that was the explicit trade-off of lifetime employment for lifetime loyalty.

Would you want to return to that?

For all of the downsides of the new system where you have to figure it out on your own, isn’t it much better to be able to choose your own adventure?

What broke lifetime employment in the United States? 

When IBM abandoned lifetime employment in 1993, it made headlines.

Junk bonds from Michael Milken changed American businesses.  Lazy company management that lived on perks instead of performance was forced to shape up or get spit out.

Corporate Boards and management have learned the lesson that Gordon “Greed is Good” Gekko taught in the ‘80s - deliver shareholder value or risk getting replaced.

It’s not a particularly nice system, but it’s effective in keeping companies focused on the bottom line.  And that bottom line has paid off for you in higher wages for your work - larger TVs in your den, faster phones in your pocket or purse, more advanced cars in your driveway, and 3D sonograms when you’re pregnant.

Culturally, though, we’ve been too slow to adapt to the professional implications.

Still today, old-timers bemoan the lack of company loyalty.  Middle managers insist that junior employees should have to pay their dues.  Promotions and responsibility are still based on years served rather than achievements unlocked.  When an employee says “I quit”, too often we are blaming the employee for putting their own interests first.

These relics of a bygone system don’t make sense given corporate America’s lack of loyalty to employees.

If companies can dump employees on a conference call, downsize divisions overnight, and never put employees’ interests ahead of profitability, then it is foolish for employees to be patient, loyal, and selfless in return.

When companies are cold-blooded, employees need to be hard-headed. 

What’s good for the Gekko is for the gander. This new generation of employees should say “greed is good” and look out for their own interests first.

You can wish for a return to an era of mutual sacrifice and commitment, but unless you’re willing to put your money where your mouth is and give up employment-at-will and offer long-term contracts to employees, there’s no reason for employees to be loyal and selfless in return.

For all its rough edges, the modern American system is better at helping people reach their goals through choosing their own career path. It’s a much more flexible, productive, high-paying system than lifetime employment.

So instead of being loyal to a Delaware C corporation, your loyalties should be to the people and teams that you work with.

What determines your success are your skills and accomplishments, and the good things that people say about being your teammate.

It’s not your company that comes first, but your network: building a reputation as a team player, a reliable colleague, and an effective boss is what will get you ahead.

The irony of the lesson of Bluestar Airlines is that while it made capitalism less humane, it forces each of us as professionals to be more human in return.

And that’s why “I quit” is such a good sign for the American workforce.