Too many companies’ HR policies are overly restrictive. Such policies are often convoluted and overly paternal, and attempt to control the behavior of regular people through rules designed to rein in the “bad apples.”

In 1980, Jim Baron, now a professor at the Yale School of Management, and William Bielby, now a professor at the University of Illinois, published a seminal article on firms and inequality. In it, the authors, both sociologists, made a compelling argument that, to understand labor market outcomes like inequality, it wasn’t enough to look at the supply and demand for individuals’ skills. We should also look, they argued, at the decisions made by firms.

Around the world, automation is transforming work, business, and the economy. China is already the largest market for robots in the world, based on volume. All economies, from Brazil and Germany to India and Saudi Arabia, stand to gain from the hefty productivity boosts that robotics and artificial intelligence will bring. The pace and extent of adoption will vary from country to country, depending on factors including wage levels. But no geography and no sector will remain untouched.

The debate over the misclassification of employees — treating them as independent contractors instead of employees — pervades the modern fissured workplace.

On Labor Day, Americans celebrate the value of work, community, and the activists who earned the rights and protections that U.S. employees enjoy today. But as Americans — and people everywhere — look ahead to a world of constant disruption, they will undoubtedly see both opportunity and uncertainty. All of us need a new way of thinking about work and taking personal responsibility for our careers, which last 45 years and beyond.

While the financial services industry has already begun the shift from active management to passive management, artificial intelligence will move the market even further, to management by smart machines, as in the case of Blackrock, which is rolling computer-driven algorithms and models into more traditional actively-managed funds.

When it comes to pay, fair doesn’t necessarily mean equal. And recent research from PayScale shows that companies that use performance-focused compensation practices may see better returns than those who cling to equal pay at every turn.