Catherwood LibraryILR School

Top companies are striving to retain the best employees by offering to expand maternity leave, curtailing weekend work, and eliminating on-call duty. Despite attempts to offer improved work-life balance, many employees in various industries will remain driven to forgo personal lives in order to meet workplace expectations both unspoken and clearly defined. The passionate commentary on work stress that has erupted over Amazon's workplace culture as depicted in the New York Times this weekend has several observers noting that ruthless ambition is likely to remain strong within an economy where increasing numbers of new employees are vying for well-paying positions. One such observer, Cornell professor of economics Robert H. Frank, notes that a competitive desire to land the best positions at the best companies fosters a winner-take-all mentality in the workplace, readily seen in law firms as lawyers are culled in pursuit of partnership. This process of winning through the elimination of one's competitors, also known as "the tournament", is also commonplace in technology, consulting and investment firms. Even social media technology that companies have introduced in order to engage co-workers has resulted in an "always available" atmosphere.