5 ms·

all investments carry risks. e.g. if a company invests in a building for their office, there's always a risk that building will incur excessive maintenance ex

all investments carry risks. e.g. if a company invests in a building for their office, there's always a risk that building will incur excessive maintenance expenses, become unusable because of some calamity, or that the location around the building will become a bad neighborhood and make that building a lot less useful. i think a company can invest in, say, teaching their employees a valuable skill and then make money off that investment, even if the employee leaves eventually.

vinceguidry 9y ago
You can insure against risks. You can't against bets. Good luck getting an insurance company to sell you a policy covering training cost recovery in the event of employee-initiated turnover.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  Investments are bets. You can totally insure your bets, the term “hedge your bets” exists for a reason. You seem to be equating bets with gambling for some reason.
  - vinceguidry 9y ago
    Self-insurance against the risk of employee defections costing them time and money is exactly what employers are already doing, by not taking on the risk of educating and training employees.
    - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
      You can hedge your bets in many different ways with different assumptions for likely outcomes. For example, if you think it likely that your employee won’t hang around for very long, then you can act by treating them as disposable. You could also choose to mitigate the risk of them leaving if you thought you could be successful at it. Both approaches are forms of self insurance, none of them are full proof, and they can also lead to self fulfilling prophecy problems.
      - vinceguidry 9y ago
        > You could also choose to mitigate the risk of them leaving if you thought you could be successful at it. Yeah good luck with that.
        seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        There are many things you can do: 1. Pay them more money. 2. Give them interesting things to work on. 3. Invest in their career development. ... It isn't "luck". Many companies just suck at that (either because they have bad leadership or their industries don't support it).
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  i feel like we're playing word games. "risk" vs. "bet." the distinction you raise is that there (apparently) is no such thing as an insurance policy that protects a company against a valuable employee's departure. but that doesn't mean "invest" is the wrong word to use when a company spends money to educate an employee. also, there are strategies aside from a literal insurance policy which companies can and do use to increase employee retention rates. (just like there are strategies other than insurance policies that companies can use to protect a building against damage or loss of value.)

vinceguidry 9y ago

You can insure against risks. You can't against bets. Good luck getting an insurance company to sell you a policy covering training cost recovery in the event of employee-initiated turnover.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Investments are bets. You can totally insure your bets, the term “hedge your bets” exists for a reason. You seem to be equating bets with gambling for some reason.
- vinceguidry 9y ago
  Self-insurance against the risk of employee defections costing them time and money is exactly what employers are already doing, by not taking on the risk of educating and training employees.
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    You can hedge your bets in many different ways with different assumptions for likely outcomes. For example, if you think it likely that your employee won’t hang around for very long, then you can act by treating them as disposable. You could also choose to mitigate the risk of them leaving if you thought you could be successful at it. Both approaches are forms of self insurance, none of them are full proof, and they can also lead to self fulfilling prophecy problems.
    - vinceguidry 9y ago
      > You could also choose to mitigate the risk of them leaving if you thought you could be successful at it. Yeah good luck with that.
      - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        There are many things you can do: 1. Pay them more money. 2. Give them interesting things to work on. 3. Invest in their career development. ... It isn't "luck". Many companies just suck at that (either because they have bad leadership or their industries don't support it).
HillaryBriss 9y ago
i feel like we're playing word games. "risk" vs. "bet." the distinction you raise is that there (apparently) is no such thing as an insurance policy that protects a company against a valuable employee's departure. but that doesn't mean "invest" is the wrong word to use when a company spends money to educate an employee. also, there are strategies aside from a literal insurance policy which companies can and do use to increase employee retention rates. (just like there are strategies other than insurance policies that companies can use to protect a building against damage or loss of value.)