????周一，惠普（Hewlett-Packard）宣布將拆分成兩家上市公司：惠普企業公司（Hewlett-Packard Enterprise）與惠普公司（HP Inc）。此舉有潛在的好處，但也會帶來許多問題。

????公司規模過于龐大，會造成管理困難，這將對社會造成不利影響。今年早些時候，美國聯邦存款保險公司（FDIC）副董事長湯姆?霍尼格告訴我，他依然擔心美國最大的銀行仍過于龐大，危機重重。但太大的公司對社會造成的傷害，并不限于金融服務性公司，也不只是正常的反壟斷定價方面的問題。

????如果大公司利用其集中的權力在政治領域支配民眾，或恣意控制個人數據與隱私，這樣的公司對于社會是危險的。此外，大公司也會造成其他危害，因為他們的董事會與高層的生活圈子與員工截然不同，因此，對于普通員工每天的努力，他們缺少同理心，而這會成為一種令人遺憾的趨勢。董事會開始認為員工只是可供他們“開采”的資源，而不是與他們一樣的人，結果整個社會因此受到損害。

????在彭博社（Bloomberg）近期的一系列報道中，梅根?麥克阿德聲稱，提高員工薪酬的好處并沒有想象的那么多。令人震驚的是，麥克阿德竟然忘記了，食不果腹和居無定所帶來的壓力會降低員工的積極性和工作效率，并且會造成更高的員工流失率。她也沒有考慮提高最低收入員工的工資，所帶來的更廣泛的經濟倍增效果。此外，麥克阿德提出了一條有趣的論據，她認為In-N-Out漢堡（In-N-Out Burger）的員工得到的待遇優于麥當勞（McDonald’s），與公司的規模有很大關系。我不確定她的說法是否正確，但可以確定的一點是，更小的公司能夠給高層管理者提供了解員工日常生活的機會；上下級之間的親近關系，使得公司更難不近人情地對待員工，雖然這樣的情況不可能完全消除。

????On Monday, Hewlett-Packard announced that it plans to split itself into two public companies: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. The move has potential benefits and problems.

????Companies that are too big to manage are detrimental to society. Earlier this year, FDIC Vice-Chair Tom Hoenig told me that he continues to be concerned that the largest banks in the U.S. remain too large and risky. But the harm to society from companies that are too big goes far beyond financial services firms or even normal anti-trust pricing concerns.

????Large companies can be dangerous when they use concentrated power to overrule citizens in the political arena and when they exercise unbridled control over individuals’ data and privacy. Massive companies can also create other hazards because their boards and top managers live in spheres so different from their workers that the absence of empathy for the normal daily struggles can become an unfortunate epidemic. Boards begin to think about employees as resources to exploit rather than human beings like themselves, and society suffers because of that.

????In a recent series for Bloomberg, Megan McArdle argued that the benefits of paying workers more are less than you may think. Astonishingly, McArdle forgets that the stress of empty stomachs and homelessness can render employees vulnerable to lower engagement and productivity and higher turnover. She also failed to consider the broader economic multiplier benefits of higher wages for the lowest paid workers. That aside, McArdle makes an interesting argument that part of the reason employees are treated better at In-N-Out Burger versus McDonald’s has to do with companies’ size. I’m not sure she’s completely right about that, but certainly smaller firms offer more opportunity for top managers to understand the daily lives of their staff; proximity makes it more difficult, although not impossible, to treat employees inhumanely.