Someone once noticed that whereas most popular TV shows
used to revolve around the family -- think
Ozzie and Harriet,
or The Cosby Show
-- now they revolve around work. From
CSI to
Grey's Anatomy
to, of course, The
Office, the focus of Americans' lives these
days, both on TV and in real life, is their jobs. For
all our talk of preciousness of kids and family, the
truth is that Americans today are flocking more to the
rewards of work and less to the rewards of family.
But in exchange for the devotion to work, employees want
their jobs and their workplace to match their sense of
self -- and smart employers are paying attention. With
choice, personal expression, and individual fulfillment
at all-time high, companies are doing everything from
revisiting their ban on tattoos (30 million Americans
now have them, including 1 in 3 people aged 25-29), to
adding the "expression of gender identity" -- one's
inner sense of being male or female -- to the list of
things they won't discriminate against (100 corporations
already do).
Twenty-five years ago, we could measure changes in the
workforce by looking at "megatrends," such as the Rise
in Technology. Okay, we got that one. But in recent
years, there has been such an explosion in the number of
choices in people's lives that the only way to really
know what's going on, in work or anywhere else, is to
look at the
Microtrends -- the smaller, counterintuitive
forces that are pushing and pulling at society.
The key work-related Microtrends fall into three areas.
Love and Work
Employers would do well to pay attention to
Office Romancers.
As the sexes reach greater equity in the workplace, more
and more people are finding love right there at the
proverbial water cooler. In 2006, almost 60% of U.S.
employees said they've been involved in an office
romance, up from just 47% in 2003. And yet only 1 in 5
companies have policies concerning this. Isn't it time
for some frank new discussions about dating, mating, and
breaking up, in the context of colleagues, clients, and
competitors?
A different kind of love, but which also profoundly
affects the workplace, is that of
Dutiful Sons.
Most Americans think that unpaid care for infirm
relatives falls to women, and indeed, most of it does.
To their credit, some companies have tried to grapple
with the challenges of the "Daughter Track." But less
appreciated is that there are also 17 million men caring
-- on average 19 hours a week -- for aging and infirm
parents, parents-in-law, and spouses. As compared to
women, more of them are still working full-time, and
fewer of them are comfortable discussing these
obligations. But since companies lose tens of billions
of dollars a year because of missed work due to care of
relatives, isn't it time to start addressing this, for
the sake of the employees and the parents? As life
expectancy grows, the care gap is only going to widen.
Place and Work
Beyond Love and Work, there have also been substantial
changes in where people work. More so than ever,
employees are working far from home, far from their
spouses, or far from the workplace itself.
-
Extreme Commuters.
About 3.5 million people travel at least 90 minutes
each way to get to work -- almost double the number
from 10 years ago. These people have the potential
to make a huge difference in everything from gas
taxes, to car design, to ads in Books on Tape. But
from a workplace perspective, don't count on them
for a lot of on-site overtime. And when you want to
affect the "community" of your employees, know that
you might have a rather serious radius.
-
Commuter Couples.
At the same time, another 3.5 million workers are
living right by work during the workweek, but
traveling back to see their spouses and families on
the weekends. They may feel no connection to the
jobsite's external community, but on the other hand,
these are the workers who are more likely to give
their employers 24/5.
-
Stay-at-Home Workers.
And finally, there are yet another 4.2 million
Americans who don't come to work at all, except
virtually. Reportedly, this group puts in more
hours than on-site workers
and
experiences greater job satisfaction. But to make
these arrangements work long-term, employers need to
ensure these workers have the technology to stay
highly connected, training to manage tele-enabled
meetings and conferences, and access to suitable
places -- beyond the family den -- to meet with
colleagues, clients, and customers.
Age and Work
Finally, for the biggest small trends in the American
workforce, look to both ends of the age spectrum.
Summer interns aren't the naifs they used to be -- these
days, High School
Moguls as young as 12 are starting their own
businesses, and they often make serious money at it. As
of 2000, 8 percent of all teens, or about 1.6 million
young people in the U.S., were making money on the
Internet. They won't necessarily skip college or
business school to compete with you, but you can bet
they don't want to spend too long getting coffee or
filing documents, either.
And at the other end of the scale is America's
Working Retired
-- the 5 million U.S. workers who are 65+, twice the
number of such workers in 1980. And that number is
about to explode; three out of four Baby Boomers say
they have no intention of seeking a traditional
retirement. No, they want to stay on -- which will
complicate life for younger employees, and for
employers' health insurance costs. The good news is
that all this extra work could mitigate, or eliminate,
the predicted Social Security crisis. But in the
meantime, employers should expect for more requests for
winters-off, low-sodium food in the cafeteria, and
greater coverage of prescription drugs.
As work in America becomes more fulfilling, it is
becoming more full-time, both in terms of hours in the
day and years within the life. But as a result,
employees want their work to accommodate, and even
promote, the kinds of choices they are making elsewhere
-- from their love life to their family life to their
newfound span of work life. As a management matter,
that calls for a profound new respect for different
personalities, schedule, and styles at work. If you
think about it, it's not so much to ask that employees
be allowed tattoos, or gender-neutral bathrooms, if
they're going to give you 24/5, or 50+ years.
At the same time, keep an eye on those gender-neutral
bathrooms. The Office Romancers are probably sneaking
in there together.
Authors
Mark Penn and Kinney
Zalesne are the authors of the new
bestselling book,
Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big
Changes (Twelve, 2007).
You
can learn how to discover new microtrends at
www.microtrending.com. |
