Fundamental Changes in Organizational Beliefs

As mentioned earlier, the corporate dynamics of the work have changed and traditional employers of the past don’t exist much anymore. This shift puts much more responsibility on the individual employee for their long term welfare and financial longevity. Many retirees of the past could anticipate a pension and healthcare coverage until death for long term service to their company. These benefit costs have increased dramatically over the years and many companies are phasing our or changing the benefit structure. The basis of our economy has also changed from industrial to service and information.

Adapted from: B. Day and K. Copithorne, Radical Change in the World of Work: The Backgrounder, Alberta Advanced Education and Career Development, Edmonton. 1995. 

It’s a New Work World Out There

There are many more work alternatives now than in the past. Individuals can anticipate this trend growing in the future. Technological changes have played a huge role in this process. Employee focus away from what is best for the company to what is best for the individual has also driven changes in the workplace. Work environments of the past were focused primarily on full time employment that took place at a physical job location. Jobs were stratified into white and blue collar jobs. One’s gender often drove what was considered an appropriate career. Through the 1960’s women were considered mothers first and often were not employed outside the home. If they were employed it was most often in positions deemed appropriate-nursing, teaching, and secretarial work.

There are still inequities in gender work roles but women have many more opportunities in career choices. Additionally, other minorities groups have a greater range of career opportunities.

Some trends include:

• Greater use of part-time employment. Employees have more flexibility in asking for less than 40 hour work weeks. Companies are more likely to decrease an employee’s hours during slow downs in the economy.
• Working two part time jobs to create the income of one. In some fields and markets it is difficult to find full time employment. More people are working two part-time jobs, often with no or fewer benefits, to meet financial obligations
• Job-sharing. More employees are sharing jobs, often to improve the quality of life. Often, women will want a career and family but find full time work doesn’t offer the balance they want. One full-time position will be shared to give the employee more time at home or with family.
• Contract work. As the costs of benefits rise employers are less likely to hire traditional employees. They will hire contract employees to perform the job and not provide traditional benefits. This helps companies meet short term employee needs.
• Decreases in benefits. Employee benefits have become a huge expense for employers. Medical coverage costs have increased dramatically over the years. Many companies, especially those of less than 100 employees are not able to afford the cost of providing medical benefits. There are now millions of uninsured or underinsured employees. Trends in the foreseeable future include not offering spousal benefits, making employees pay the full price for spouse/family benefits, and moving from traditional health insurance plans to healthcare savings accounts.
• Consulting. More and more individuals are using their talents as consultants. They hire their services to companies for a specific project or amount of time. They do not receive benefits but are often paid a higher level of compensation.
• Self-employment. More and more individuals are setting up their own businesses doing jobs they used to do for an employer. Companies are finding it cheaper to hire outside companies to provide work because they don’t have to pay benefits. Many companies have stopped doing their own housekeeping and now hire outside individuals or small companies to come in and do the work. This creates more opportunities for individuals who want to be their own boss but these individuals often have difficulty affording health insurance coverage. As our society has changed there are now more opportunities for self employment. Forty years ago there were few opportunities for individuals to have lawn care businesses, housekeeping companies or personal chefs.
• Outsourcing. There are several types of outsourcing but all are driven by companies seeking cheaper ways to do business. Some companies will outsource whole departments to other companies who come in and do the job. Some areas that are often outsourced include human resources, housekeeping and foodservice. Another type of outsourcing that has recently occurred involves taking jobs to other countries were labor is much cheaper. Customer service and support centers are most often outsourced to other English speaking countries. A new trend is outsourcing to other countries more specialized jobs like reading x-rays.
• Telecommunicating. Technological advances allow employees greater freedom to chose where they work. Some employees spend less time in the office and more time working from home. Some employees work from home almost entirely. Employees are more able to work in cities far from company locations. Telecommunicating is expected to grow as technology provides more and better ways to share information.
• Flex Schedules. With more focus on work-life balance many companies are thinking outside the traditional Monday to Friday 8:00 to 5:00 workday. Employees are being allowed to “flex” their schedules to help those better meet family obligations, traffic congestion, and personal performance.

As you career transition grows give greater thought to where and how you see yourself working.

On to Career Search