| One of the biggest decisions taken by western | | | | workforce, the workforce now determines the |
| society businesses in the last twenty years or so | | | | future of business. The dollars that come from |
| has come back to bite them. I refer to the | | | | work continue to be of major importance but not |
| decision around 1990 that the cost of permanent | | | | so the commitment to any one employer. The |
| staff was too high to sustain and, as much as | | | | workers want more than money - they want |
| possible, work should be out-sourced to contract | | | | employment that enables them to achieve their |
| or casual labour. The consequent widespread | | | | personal dreams and goals. |
| sacking of staff - especially in the middle | | | | Employers now find themselves in a struggle to |
| management ranges - had a devastating impact | | | | attract, retain, nurture and sustain the best |
| on the workforce culture, including workers' | | | | people. The struggle is heightened by the fact |
| dependents. | | | | that such workers are not sitting at an |
| Loyalty - both ways - died almost overnight. The | | | | employment agency, waiting for offers. They are |
| concept of long-term commitment to the one | | | | already committed to working for their current |
| employer, rewarded with a retirement pension | | | | employer of choice. Powerful incentives are |
| and the proverbial gold watch when they reached | | | | needed to encourage them to move to another |
| their 60's, became a thing of the past. Term | | | | organization, one that is often in direct competition |
| contracts for specified objectives became the | | | | with their present employer. Dollars alone are not |
| norm. | | | | enough. |
| It didn't take long for the workers, including people | | | | In seeking the best incentives, employers are |
| new to the workforce, to find a positive response | | | | slowly (I repeat, slowly) beginning to recognize |
| to this situation. If business doesn't want to be | | | | that, to find out what will attract the right |
| responsible for workers' careers, the workers | | | | individual, they have to look outside their |
| were going to have to be responsible for their | | | | workplace environment. They need to look |
| own. Workers became their own managers. | | | | beyond the person's potential working capabilities |
| They began to: | | | | and embrace the fact that staff are whole human |
| - develop and refine their transferable skills to | | | | beings, driven by their reasons for living, not just |
| maintain high employment prospects in a dynamic | | | | for working. |
| marketplace. | | | | To add an interesting twist, the people who are |
| - choose jobs and employers that best suited | | | | trying to attract staff are themselves not |
| their personal goals and enabled them to | | | | impervious to these cultural changes. They too |
| periodically adapt to changing needs, | | | | are increasingly reviewing their life goals and |
| - work for as many employers as they wished - | | | | employment aims. |
| consecutively or concurrently, for as long as | | | | Business, globally, is discovering the need to |
| suited their needs and offering the conditions they | | | | harmonize its drive for economic success with the |
| wanted. | | | | desire of its workers to achieve personal goals. |
| The rest, as they say, is history. This new | | | | It's a bit like satisfying customer demands - you |
| flexibility has suited the rapidly changing, stressful, | | | | don't need to know every individual person's |
| pressurized 21st century lifestyle, offering many | | | | unique needs but you do have to design your |
| benefits to the employer, the employee, industry | | | | product knowing each buyer will have a personal |
| and society in general. | | | | reason in mind for buying it. |
| But business hadn't bargained on other cultural | | | | Employers of Choice understand that every |
| shifts that were going to greatly complicate the | | | | employee, or potential employee: |
| issue: | | | | - is on their own personal journey through life, |
| - an aging workforce, | | | | only some of which is spent in the workplace |
| - a changing interest in life priorities by many 50+ | | | | - has a unique set of life aims and objectives |
| baby boomer managers, and | | | | - chooses workplace cultures that best help them |
| - people who make up the emerging younger | | | | achieve those goals, and |
| workforce no longer see work as the driver of | | | | - sees work not as an end in itself but as a |
| life but more a passenger. | | | | means to other ends. |
| All of this has given rise to the emergence of the | | | | People buy on emotions - selecting products or |
| concept of the Employer of Choice who offers a | | | | services that make them feel good about |
| range of benefits over and above the money. | | | | themselves. We are more likely to commit to |
| Flexible working conditions, work/life balance - | | | | employers who appeal to our emotions as much |
| lovely in theory but difficult in practice - childcare / | | | | as, if not more than, our pockets. Organizations |
| eldercare provisions and expanded maternity | | | | that cultivate this type of workplace culture are |
| leave involving both the mother and the father | | | | more likely to gain strong staff commitment, |
| are just some of the provisions that have | | | | sustained high levels of work productivity, reduced |
| surfaced since the 1990's. | | | | long-term stress, improved workforce stability |
| The shoe is therefore now on the other foot. Far | | | | and the vital edge over their competitors. |
| from business determining the future of the | | | | |