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FEATURES

managing people

Talent Management and the Dual-Career Couple

Jennifer Petriglieri | page 092

Companies invest heavily in grooming startalent for leadership—but most of them haven’t figured out how to manage thegrowing population of employees who care deeply about their partners’ orspouses’ careers at the same time that they want to advance their own. As aresult, many high potentials are heading for the nearest exit.

The author has seen this happen again andagain in her research on dual-career couples in tech, health care, professionalservices, and other industries. She says the crux of the problem is thatcompanies tend to have fixed paths to leadership roles, with set tours of dutyand rigid ideas about what ambition looks like. That creates flexibility andmobility challenges for employees—and recruitment and retention headaches foremployers.

Organizations must adopt new strategies formanaging and developing talent. They can remove barriers to advancement byallowing people to develop skills and networks in more-creative ways—throughbrief “job swaps,” for example, or commuter-leader roles. But often a culturechange is needed. Instead of stigmatizing flexibility, companies must learn toembrace it.

HBR Reprint R1803H

FEATURES

diversity

What Most People Get Wrong About Men and Women

Catherine H. Tinsley and Robin J. Ely

page 100

Why have women failed to achieve paritywith men in the workplace? Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because womenprioritize their families over their careers, negotiate poorly, lackconfidence, or are too risk-averse. Meta-analyses of published studies showthat those ideas are myths—men and women actually have similar inclinations,attitudes, and skills. What does differ is the way they are treated on the job:Women have less access to vital information, get less feedback fromsupervisors, and face other obstacles to advancement.

To ensure gender equity, the authorsrecommend that managers: (1) question the stereotypes behind their practices;(2) consider other factors that might explain the achievement gap; (3) changeworkplace conditions accordingly; and (4) keep challenging assumptions andsharing learning so as to create a culture in which all employees can reachtheir full potential. 

HBR Reprint R1803J

FEATURES

managing organizations

layoffs that don’t break your company

Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta | page108

Today layoffs have become companies’default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and globalcompetition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leadersachieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the costsavings are overshadowed by bad publicity, loss of knowledge, weakenedengagement, higher voluntary turnover, and lower innovation, which hurt profitsin the long run.

This article looks at better ways to handlechanging workforce needs that make sparing use of staff reductions and ensurethat if they do happen, the process feels fair and the affected parties have asoft landing. Most successful approaches begin with a philosophy that spellsout a firm’s commitments and priorities, establish methods for exploring layoffalternatives (such as furloughs, retraining, and reassignments), and determineoptions for three scenarios: a healthy present, short-term volatility, and anuncertain future.

As firms like AT&T, Michelin,Honeywell, and Nokia have learned, thoughtful planning helps organizationsaddress workforce transitions and cope with a shifting economic landscape farbetter than layoffs do.

HBR Reprint R1803K