[Real Beat] "The Era of Lifetime Employment Is Over"... The Significance of GE Selling Its 70-Year-Old Training Center

GE, Recently Sold 'Crotonville' Building
Jack Welch Personally Conducted Monthly Classes to Develop Leaders
"Now Is an Era Where Companies and Employees Eye Each Other"

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is a shortened form of 'Jung Hyunjin's Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a segment that showcases trends in the changing world of work.

Crotonville, once called the "Global Talent Academy," recently attracted attention in the business world after being sold to a real estate investment company for 30.4 billion KRW. Crotonville is an in-house training center established by the American company General Electric (GE) in 1956, where employees received intensive training for nearly 70 years. Legendary GE CEO Jack Welch transformed it from a simple training facility into a talent development institution nurturing the next generation of leaders. During his tenure, Welch was so devoted that he personally gave lectures at Crotonville every month to spread his management philosophy.

The exterior of the Crotonville building, an in-house training center and 'Global Talent Academy' recently sold by the American company General Electric (GE). (Photo by GE website)

"Crotonville was built on the concept that employees can love their own company." Suzy Welch, wife of former CEO Jack Welch and a professor at New York University (NYU) Stern Business School, explained this in an op-ed sent to the WSJ on the 16th (local time) following the sale announcement. She described, "The era when the company and employees were one team is over," adding, "Now, companies and employees look at each other like boxers staring from opposite corners of the ring." Regarding the current moment when work-life balance (WLB) has become the top priority for workers, she said, "Young employees cannot imagine caring about the company, and vice versa (the company caring about employees)," concluding, "Jack would be saddened."

The reason Crotonville could become a global talent academy was that it gathered employees recognized as next-generation leaders in one place for training. Since only top-performing managers or employees with high potential for promotion were selected, being chosen was considered an honor. Attendees not only learned the company’s strategic priorities but also received direct leadership training from company leaders. There is a well-known anecdote that when asked how much of the $46 million (about 52 billion KRW) invested in constructing the Crotonville building in 1983 could be recovered, Welch wrote "Infinite." Through this, GE laid the foundation for shaping its corporate culture.

This training took place at a time when the concept of a lifelong career at one company?joining and retiring without changing jobs?was common. Peter Cappelli, a human resources expert and professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, wrote in a 2022 media article about GE’s move to sell Crotonville that "the closure of corporate training centers signifies the decline of lifelong employment." At that time, the concept of lifelong employment was based on the belief that "the company’s growth is my growth," with companies nurturing employees and employees embracing the company’s goals.

Now, times have changed. The so-called "N-jobbers," who juggle a main job and side jobs, are rapidly increasing, especially among young workers. According to Shinhan Bank’s "Ordinary People’s Financial Life Report 2024," 16.9% of economically active people are N-jobbers, and more than six out of ten N-jobbers decided to start side jobs within five years of joining their company. Reports also indicate that Generation Z in the US and UK are increasingly engaging in dual jobs.

Leaving behind decades of history, Crotonville has become a reservation-based conference center renting out meeting spaces. With lifelong employment disappearing, it is time for business leaders to consider how they can become "one team" with their employees.