Principles of Organizational Behavior, 3rd Edition

9Follow the Science to Make Training Work

EDUARDO SALAS,¹ and KEVIN C. STAGL,²

¹ Allyn R. & Gladys M. Cline Professor of Psychology, Rice University

² Department of Psychology, George Mason University

The fight for talent to seize competitive advantage has raged for decades, but there is a renewed urgency to attract, develop, and retain top performers post pandemic (Dowd, 2021). Iconic US brands such as Goldman Sachs adaptively reorganized via distributed performance arrangements to retain partners and managing directors migrating to geographic locations with more accommodative personal and business environments. In this example, changes in latitudes are driven by changes in attitudes about securing and sustaining sector dominance via talent.

The flow of talent is not localized to Manhattan's financial district, as surveyed NYC employers reported 57% of employees will likely return to the office three days per week by January 2022, while 21% permanently remain remote (Partnership for New York City, 2021). One-third of Big Apple employers reported downsizing five-year office space lease plans. This talent shift is contributing to a Great Resignation of 8.7 million US employees who quit their jobs during August and September 2021, a record for the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover metric.

Unfortunately, a national education crisis, employment levels topping 94%, a growing retiree bubble, and the rapid rise of emerging market opportunities are draining an already ...