In the good old days of doing business, employer – employee relationships pivoted around the principles of stability and loyalty. In financially sound organizations, careers progressed systematically along determined paths as long as employees delivered the goods, diligently and consistently. The sand has shifted considerably in today’s complex business environment, ushering in a laissez-faire arrangement as it were. In a restless market typified by redundancies and erratic lay-offs in order to offset rising costs and allow for new hires catering to changing and emerging job roles, employees too tend to consider themselves ‘free agents’ unhesitatingly looking out for career growth opportunities and better prospects elsewhere.

An interesting and practicable option in today’s volatile business world is to build professional relationships on alliance and reciprocity. This new employer – employee compact seems quite apt in this day and age, given that many agile and evolving businesses tend not to require the same personnel on lifetime contracts, and top professionals too are less inclined to devote themselves to the same organization/employer for life. In a fluid work-order, a compact driven by the mutual benefits of an employer – employee alliance makes for more meaningful and productive professional relationships. Both parties acknowledge and appreciate that this is a voluntary time-bound relationship, with reciprocity as its operating principle. The compact underscores the notion that employers invest in enhancing the employability and marketability of its personnel, and they in turn

invest in the organization’s adaptability and growth.

“We’re a team, not a family”, Netflix’s CEO was known to have said once. Pragmatic as it may seem, the compact is based on trust nonetheless. Also, with this compact in place, organizations fret less about losing their best people or being wary of the forward-looking entrepreneurial ones.

Essentially, three tenets make the compact workable.

The first is hiring employees for ‘tours of duty’ lasting four years, with a review and discussion at the end of two years. The four-year window has both appeal and application in many industries – IT, consumer goods, banking sector – as also elsewhere. One term of the US President or the intervening period between two global sporting events (such as Olympic Games, Football / Cricket World Cups, etc.) – two mention two of these. The company helps advance the career of achievers / successful employees who successfully move the needle of business to the organization’s benefit by way of another tour of duty. In all fairness, the tour of duty approach can actually enable both recruiting and retention, as it pre-supposes a purposeful employer – employee relationship with pre-defined expected benefits of each, and works towards a planned end.

The second deals with engaging employee-initiatives beyond company’s boundaries and leveraging their network intelligence. The wider the employees’ professional networks involving customers and competitors alike, the higher the chances of contributing to organizational progress or making insightful and informed decisions. Needless to mention, without mutual trust this process would fail to take off.

The third process involves creating and nurturing a dynamic alumni network. Any

0rganization’s alumni network is a valuable resource waiting to be harnessed. When a worthy employee resigns and prepares for departure, it helps to welcome the person into the alumni body. Such a practice underlines the belief that while employer – employee relationships can draw to a close, the affiliation need not and can continue to be productive. McKinsey boasts of 24000+ member alumni base comprising more than 230 CEOs of companies with at least $1 billion in revenue.

To implement the compact successfully, an organization must prepare for a two-way flow of value. It must give, to receive.