I write in Healing the Wounds about the value of making the psychological employment contract more explicit. The reason I think this is a good idea is that it reduces the ambiguity and erases the, often not valid, assumptions about job security.
This concept of “putting it in writing” is counter cultural to many organizations. I think this is in order to give the organization flexibility and not tie them down. Sometimes I hear organizational spokespersons saying something like, “We’ve worked for years on a handshake. Why reduce it to writing? Don’t you trust us?” The unfortunate answer is no! Even with the best intentions, organizations can’t really predict the future and employment continuality.
My recent experience on a cruise ship reinforced my belief in the clarity and value of contractual relationships. Everyone in a cruise ship – including the captain – has a clear contract that spells out all aspects of their employment relationship. This explicit contracting does not hinder their focus on customer service. In fact, the clarity frees them to focus on their jobs, not their security.
Business organizations can formulate renewable contracts with the agreement of the employee and the organization. This would actually be much better than the current performance appraisal process since it would be much clearer and more focused on the specifics of the work.
