The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits - Softcover

Ton, Zeynep

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1477800980 ISBN 13: 9781477800980

Publisher: Amazon Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

For decades, jobs with good pay and decent benefits in service, manufacturing, and retail have gone overseas, eviscerating America’s middle class and setting off a chain reaction of problems for the country as a whole. Up until now, defenders of the new system have argued that American corporations, to stay competitive internationally, must cut wages and benefits and essentially squeeze as much value as possible out of each worker. But this is backward: workers aren’t a cost. They are a company’s greatest asset.

Ton argues that good jobs and happy, well-compensated employees are in fact a key element of a virtuous cycle for companies that results in low prices and increased profitability. The author’s work focuses on retailing, where bad jobs would seem to be most embedded in the fabric of the business; but she also reveals how her insights and conclusions can be applied successfully in most service businesses.

About this title

Review:

“In the last few years, [Zeynep] Ton has become a revolutionary force in a field that would seem unlikely to generate many — the Kafkaesque-titled Operations Management. Her central thesis is that many of [the] big-box retailers have been making a strategic error... but she believes her core findings are relevant in nearly every industry. After re-evaluating the relationship between worker management and profit, she argues that many corporate leaders will realize that paying their workers more and treating them better will actually make everyone better off. And this, indeed, would foment a small revolution.” —The New York Times Magazine

“In this brilliantly conceived and written book, Zeynep Ton shows that companies that view their workforce as an asset to be maximized rather than a cost to be minimized, have both happier workers and better business results. This book is a 'must read' for anyone that wants to think creatively about how they manage their workforce.” —Marshall Fisher, professor at The Wharton School and co-author of The New Science of Retailing
 
“Using years of research and analysis, Zeynep Ton has proven what great leaders know instinctively—an engaged, well-paid  workforce that is treated with dignity and respect creates outsized returns for investors. She demonstrates that the race to the bottom in retail employment doesn’t have to be the only game being played. In fact, The Good Jobs Strategy shows that smart business leaders can create great shareholder value while creating good jobs.” —José Alvarez, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and former president and CEO of Stop & Shop
 
“Stop the presses. Tear out the front page. Employers can increase profits by paying their employees more and treating them better. Raising wages and improving working conditions is not just a matter of public policy. The private sector itself can make a huge difference.  Everyone who cares about good jobs—and especially every CEO—needs to read this highly informative and thoroughly readable book.” —Peter Edelman, professor of law at Georgetown Law Center and author of So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America
 
“In The Good Jobs Strategy, Zeynep Ton offers insights into how successful companies utilize operational excellence to thrive, and she reminds us that the spirit and culture of an organization—that sparkle in the eye—comes only from fully engaged employees.” —Michael Eskew, former CEO of UPS

About the Author:

ZEYNEP TON has been a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management since 2011. Previously she was on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, where she was given an award for excellence in teaching in 2010.

About this edition

• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1477800980
• ISBN 13: 9781477800980
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240