Times have Changed in the workforce

Times have changed in the workforce

A generation ago a career was a means to an end – bread on the table, roof over your family’s head and status someday as a manager in a large respected company. You joined the company, did the job assigned and climbed the corporate ladder at a slow and deliberate pace. Your career and pay didn’t peak until you reached the age of fifty or sixty. Nowadays people needs and wants of a career are more complex and sophisticated. The talented people want the big wages now and when they are in their fifties or sixties, they want to be retired and enjoying the fruits of life. Unlike in previous generations money is still of importance but not as significant as was the case a generation ago. People in their jobs want to feel passionate about their work, uplifted by the company’s leaders, assured by the depth of its management and inspired by its sense of mission. Compensation programs, career paths, training efforts and other techniques are no longer enough to keep hold of the best employees. The market does and no longer the company that will ultimately determine the movement of your employees. You can’t control the pull of the market, although it is possible to shield your best employees from attractive opportunities and aggressive recruiters. Another problem that companies are coming face to face with is the statistical study of all populations “demography” especially in the developed countries that the workforce is getting older and there are not enough young people been born to replace the senior employees. So companies need to hold onto their best staff as there maybe no one to replace them or more difficult to find someone. The figures prove this. In America for example the workforce is maturing with the average age of employees rising from 35 to 55, by 2045 there will be more people over the age of 60 than under the age of 15, and by 2015 the population of American prime management age range of 35 – 41 will be 15% less than it was in 2000. In the European Union by the year 2010 there will be more 54 – 64 years old than 15 – 24 years old. The birth-rate in European countries drops well below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 children born to every woman, to somewhere between 1.1 and 1.4 children. Demographic decline causes anxiety because it is thought to go hand-in-hand with economic decline. If management saw employee retention and commitment in the past was akin to tending a dam that keeps a reservoir in place, today it is more like managing a river. The object is not to prevent the water from flowing out but to control its direction and its speed.

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