The employee age

Enlightened employers know that, if they want great people to perform at the top of their game, they must engage and care for their employees' well-being beyond a paycheck. The Gallup organization dubbed employee engagement, "a leading indicator of financial performance" and backed it up with research showing that "engaged organizations have 3.9 times the earnings per share (EPS) growth rate compared to organizations with lower engagement in the same industry."  

The nature of work is changing. The way we work today is different from how we worked a short time ago. People are finding new freedoms and exploring their own capacity and taste for change and entrepreneurism. “The 21st century workforce bears little resemblance to the 20^th century’s,” says Ellen Galinksy, president and co-founder of Families and Work Institute (FWI). “It’s not our mothers’ or our fathers’ workplace, and neither is the business environment in which companies operate. Change is not optional; change is mandatory, and we must adapt to the realities in today’s business world.”

There are large differences in attitudes about work and time. It seems workers under 30 do not want to work under layers of hierarchy and reams of policies and procedures. They want flexible, virtual work, and are more likely to have multiple jobs. They are the hardest to recruit and the hardest to retain. 

Everyone wants to work when they want to, whether that is at night, weekends, or during a “normal” day. Working from home or from remote work centers is becoming more common. People are comfortable working with their laptops and smart phones, using Skype and collaborative workspaces. Recruiting in this morphing environment will grow more and more challenging. Some organizations are looking for ways to adapt to this new landscape without endangering their own success, focusing on results rather than time to measure performance. A flexible workforce after all, does not just mean flexibility for employees.  

Employers can benefit even when it comes to a part-time and non-permanent workforce. Flexibility allows businesses to be more fluid and change direction quickly. Business needs to change. Having a flexible workforce allows a business to ramp up or down in different regions, functions, and lines of business.