The Changing Environment
In the 1960s and 1970’s, most jobs were Monday through Friday and employees worked an average of eight or nine hours a day. This is no longer true due to the creation of global organizations, communication technology, longer hours required by employers, and multiple breadwinners in the family. Employees are recognizing that work is taking over their lives and they are not happy (Robbins, 2003).
Generation X has been shaped by globalization, two-career parents, MTV and computers. They watched the baby boomers attempt corporate loyalty only to be rewarded with downsizing and reengineering efforts. Xers learned from this and expect their work lives to deliver more and demand less. They want their jobs to allow them the flexibility to pursue non-work priorities, such as family, and they expect their work to have meaning and provide intrinsic value (May, 1998).
Generation Y, also known as the Millenials, Echo Boomers, and Nexters, started their careers on the heels of Generation X. With their “me” mentality, they will follow Generation X when it comes to demanding a balance between their personal and professional lives. Generation Y also expects a workplace that is fun and rewarding and will offer job assignments that fit their interests. As the first generation to grow up in the digital world, they will use technology to customize work environments, schedules, and lifestyle preferences. Nexters will require challenging work that makes a difference, personal relationships within the company, technological tools, recognition and reward systems, and higher wages (Newton, 2002).
While a common management outlook has been that all employees should be treated the same, the fact is that people are not all the same. We have different career goals, our family situations differ, and our preferences when it comes to our work and income vary. Changing demographics of the labor market also play a role. Basic economics shows us that the more income one has from various non-labor sources, such as a spouse’s income, the higher the reservation wage may be for them and, therefore, there is less a need and desire to participate in market activity. For example, if one person makes $70,000 a year, the other members of the household may not see a great need to work full-time in order to achieve their personal standard of living. Since we are all different in regards to our preferences for work, we will have different levels of satisfaction in the presence of constraints. The ability of organizations to offer non-traditional work schedules provides opportunity for increased employee job satisfaction, which will benefit the company in the long run (Delaney, 2002).
The changing economy and values of tomorrow’s workforce will continue to create demands for flexible, diverse benefits and policies. As all the baby boomers slide into retirement, Generations X, Y and Z won’t have the numbers to pick up the slack. Between 1995 and 2015, the labor force ages 25 to 44 will decrease by more than 3.2 million workers (Finnigan, 2001). Faced with a shrinking labor pool and severed employee/employer relations, companies will be forced to help employees balance their work and personal lives in order to remain competitive (Maurer, 2002).
Modifications within the American family will be a result of many boomers outliving their savings and moving in with their children. It is projected that a woman born after 1980 is likely to take care of her mother longer than she cares for her own children. On the other end, millennial kids will drag out adulthood and take longer to move out of their parent’s home. Both scenarios impose economic burdens as two-income wage earners will be necessary for survival (Zolli, 2006).
Part 4 next week will discuss Work/Life Programs
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