Dealing with the Human Side of Enterprise

The 21st century has not been kind so far regarding job creation. Mass layoffs and the productivity boom have added up to weak demand for workers. Employers, on the other hand, are enjoying unprecedented leverage over paid help. But managers who have exploited this buyer's market by lowballing salaries and expecting much more from their workers for much less are about to experience what my friends in the counterterrorism trade call "blowback."

Seething below the surface of the American workforce is a huge reservoir of animosity, and you'll be hearing stories like Smith's more and more in the coming year. When the national unemployment rate, which currently stands at 5.6 percent, falls below 5 percent, we'll see the dynamics of the job market shift into reverse. Get ready for another seller's market -- ? la the late 1990s -- and a mass round of musical chairs among the most skilled and talented employees.

This hypothesis is based on more than anecdotal evidence, although there's plenty of that. Consulting firm Accenture (ACN) reported last summer that about 40 percent of all middle managers were secretly looking for new jobs. And in a survey released at the end of last year by the Society for Human Resource Professionals, a stunning 8 out of 10 workers declared they'd launch their own job hunts as soon as the labor market improved.

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