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According to Jeffrey Pfeffer, when it comes to the link between people and profits, companies get exactly what they deserve. Companies that treat their people right get enormous dividends: high rates of productivity, low rates of turnover. Companies that treat their people poorly experience the opposite -- and end up complaining about the death of loyalty and the dearth of talent. These are "toxic workplaces," according to Pfeffer, 52, the Thomas D. Dee Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First (Harvard Business School Press, 1998).

Pfeffer disputes much of the conventional wisdom in the current conversation about work and business. Loyalty isn't dead, he insists -- but toxic companies are driving people away. There isn't a scarcity of talent -- but there is a growing unwillingness to work for toxic organizations. Pfeffer also disputes the idea of the end of the career. "I don't believe that people are looking to go flitting from one job to the next," he says. "People are looking for the opportunity to have variety in their work and to tackle challenging assignments. The best companies are figuring out how their employees can have both opportunities -- without leaving." When Fast Company interviewed the plain-talking, provocative Pfeffer in his Palo Alto office, he offered the following observations about the primacy of people in the new economy and about how you can detoxify your workplace.

The one guaranteed way to get a 30% to 40% productivity gain.

It mystifies me that so many companies think they can get a cheap competitive advantage by purchasing something on the open market! Anything that you can purchase on the open market is also available to your competitors. So the question is, How can you distinguish yourself in a world in which your competitors can copy everything you do?

The answer is, all that separates you from your competitors are the skills, knowledge, commitment, and abilities of the people who work for you. There is a very compelling business case for this idea: Companies that manage people right will outperform companies that don't by 30% to 40%. This principle even applies to the current IPO market: IPO firms that value their people have a much higher five-year survival rate than those that don't. Similar studies of the steel industry, the oil-refining industry, the apparel industry, and the semiconductor industry all demonstrate the enormous productivity benefits that come with implementing high-performance, high-involvement management practices.

Most people immediately understand this point. It's not as though I've discovered some mysterious black magic. There is conclusive evidence that holds for all industries, regardless of their type, size, or age. The results are the same. If you don't believe me, look at the numbers.

"Welcome to the toxic workplace! We fire at will!"

There is a lot of turnover in Silicon Valley, because there are so many toxic workplaces in Silicon Valley. These are companies that create the conditions that they deplore.

Companies say to me, "Nobody who comes to work for us stays for any length of time. Loyalty is dead." Let's accept that premise for a moment -- even though it's wrong. But if we do accept that premise, the question becomes, If loyalty is dead, who killed it?