IN PRAISE OF TEMPING: A LETTER TO THE ECONOMIST (December 15, 2009)
It is a joy to read that temping has come of age in America, where even chief executive officers and chief financial officers can now be gotten on a temporary contract (“Talent on Tap,” December 12, 2009). “Companies only go public once,” you point out in defense of this innovation, “so why hire a permanent chief executive when you can hire a temporary one who has a long track record of taking companies public?” Similar examples, such as mergers and acquisitions or outsourcing of major operations, come readily to mind. As you argue, an increasing number of Americans now see themselves as “free agents.” The stigma of temping is thus gradually ebbing away, and managers are seeking temporary jobs that match their particular talents. The only surprise in your article is its concluding paragraph, where you unexpectedly turn to waxing poetic about “home-grown” corporate greatness, as well as “cultures and habits that are preserved and perfected by a loyal cadre of managers” in the most successful companies. Having extolled the virtues of temping all the way up the corporate hierarchy, and convincingly, you suddenly sound perilously old fashioned. Nay, troglodyte.