Today’s revolutions in the nature of work seemingly have no end: the rise of working from home and hybrid work, the spread of electronic surveillance, the arrival of the gig economy, the improvement in the quality of coffee, even office yoga.

In his new book Our Least Important Asset, Professor Peter Cappelli of The Wharton School and America’s reigning guru on the nature of work, adds another one to the list: the growing use of legal contracts to manage employees.