Book description
In Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder, Jody Heymann overturns these assumptions. Drawing from thousands of interviews with employees from front line to C-suite at companies around the world, Heymann shows how enterprises have profited more by improving working conditions.
She also demonstrates that lower-skilled employees - in call centers, repair services, product assembly - aren't expendable. They can determine 90 percent of companies' profitability. High performers positively shape customers' perceptions of businesses, driving satisfaction and loyalty.
To attract, train, and retain top-caliber people in these roles, you must enhance working conditions, creating a system in which your company and its employees profit together. Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder shows what works - from stock options for bakers to flexibility for factory workers to career tracks in call centers.
Featuring cases from companies around the globe - including a leading concrete manufacturer in India, a top European pharmaceutical firm operating in China, and successful U.S. manufacturers - this book shows how real organizations are excelling financially by strengthening frontline employees' working conditions.
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction - Raising Productivity and Profitability by Creating Better Working Conditions for the Worst Off
- 1 - Providing All Employees with More Than a Living Wage
- 2 - Finding Ways to Make Scheduling Flexibility Feasible and Profitable
- 3 - Increasing Productivity and Reliability by Investing in Health Care
- 4 - Building Assets to Ensure That the Lowest-Level Employees Are Not Left Behind
- 5 - Offering Training Where It Is Valued Most
- 6 - Establishing Career Tracks for the Least-Advantaged Workers
- 7 - Engaging Employees in the Company’s Profits and Their Own
- 8 - Reaping Returns from Community Investments
- 9 - Creating Good Working Conditions Throughout the Supply Chain
- 10 - Developing a Blueprint for Changing Companies and Lives
- Notes
- Index
- About the Authors
Product information
- Title: Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce
- Author(s):
- Release date: May 2010
- Publisher(s): Harvard Business Review Press
- ISBN: 9781422123119
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