The Mind-Blowing Impact of Financial Accounting on HR
If I was going to listen to one episode of my own show this year, this would be the one. There is something I love about all of them, but this was next level. It may be appropriate considering the guest: Dr. Peter Cappelli. He is a professor of Management and Director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous Harvard Business Review articles and, recently, the author of a book on the topic of our discussion: Our Least Important Asset: Why the Relentless Focus on Finance and Accounting is Bad for Business and Employees. He explains so many things you think are dumb about the way we handle our workforces. Like: ❌ Employees are not assets. They're a fixed cost and one that must be minimized to drive shareholder value. ❌ Creating the appearance of shareholder value is NOT the same as creating a strong and efficient business. ❌ This leads to so many practices you think are shortsighted. Decreasing training budgets, layoffs, wonky recruitment, capped salaries... and it's invisible. Or, at the very least, opaque. ❌ All because of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and how they are applied to HR decisions. ❌ Even investors wish this would change. There was so much to take in and so many useful insights for HR more broadly. It's longer than my typical episode, but I HIGHLY recommend it! It will be well worth your time. A link to Dr. Cappelli's book https://www.amazon.com/Our-Least-Important-Asset-Relentless/dp/0197629806 Find Andrea on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/ or at andrea@thehrhub.ca