Having watched the mommy wars rage last fall around Sarah Palin's approach to work-family balance, I've been intrigued by the French premiere of this movie, starring the country's glamorous, embattled Justice Minister, Rachida Dati. Five days after giving birth by C-section to her daughter Zohra, Dati left the hospital and headed to the Elysee Palace for a Cabinet meeting. Cue the controversy, let fly the judgments: What about bonding and breast-feeding and savoring the glory of a social system that allows women 16 weeks of paid maternity leave?

Like Palin, Dati is a special case; but the harder the times, the heavier the symbolism. And since Dati raced back to her desk amid a global economic meltdown, her decision took on a public as well as a personal dimension. A French feminist compared her to women in the 1920s who gave birth on the factory floor and kept working for fear of losing their job. Another called her choice "scandalous" since employers could use it to "put intolerable pressure on women" to take less time off. What a pernicious example at a moment when workers are already anxious about their security.

A job, like a marriage, has its honeymoon phase, its strengths and strains and things that make us crazy. But now as all our emotions are rewired, we are grateful for what we once just assumed and frightened of things we once ignored. It would be lovely to rely on the wisdom and benevolence of bosses everywhere to realize that when people are frightened about losing their job, loyalty, productivity and morale all plunge. If employers are tempted to exploit such fears, squeeze more work out of fewer people, roll back benefits because there are 100 people lined up for every job, they may find that as in so many things, the short-term fix is long-term dumb.

I caught up with economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who has studied these issues forever. She's the founder of the Hidden Brain Drain task force, a group of more than 50 companies—including GE, Goldman Sachs and Time Warner—that are exploring how employers can hang on to the people they can least afford to lose. Especially when companies need to reinvent themselves to survive, she warns, they can't afford the huge costs associated with stressed-out talent: "It's not good for the bottom line," she says, "and it's not good for individuals."

Maybe Rachida Dati didn't rush back to work because she was scared of losing her job; maybe it was because she loved it. Who knows? But more and more often, I hear people talk about their jobs in a new way: "You have to renew your vows," as one friend puts it. Smart employers know that it works both ways.