And an update. Turns out the Darden's experiment in employee abuse was a disaster in more way than one.

In the world of health policy, Darden Restaurants may become a cautionary tale. The company, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, recently announced plans to test limiting workers’ hours, in order to dodge the health-law’s mandate that employers with more than 50 workers offer coverage to full-time employees.

It didn’t exactly go so well: The company revised its earnings projections downward after seeing a backlash to the decision. Thursday, Darden announced it had completed the test period, deciding it would not move forward with the limited-hours model.

“We have always had a significant number of full-time employees and they are integral to our success,” Darden CEO Clarence Otis said in a statement. “The data we have collected during our test around guest satisfaction and employee engagement has only reinforced this.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/06/r...

This why is this guy is CEO. He's not sure if his employees are integral to the success of the company. So he runs a test, and it turns out they are!