Employment Trends:
A New Breed of Employee is Emerging

Brian and Adam of Spherion

A national study, conducted by the Spherion Corporation, examining the current values, expectations, and experiences of American workers has discovered a new breed of employees whose workplace values and expectations are very different from what employers have traditionally known. This new breed is being called "the emergent workforce". The emergent workforce crosses all age groups, gender, and geography and according to Spherion is a revolutionary trend that is quickly changing the way companies need to attract, retain, and develop talent.

As American companies continue to face the most challenging recruitment environment of the decade, the Emerging Workforce Study looks deeper into those workplace characteristics that attract top talent and motivate high performance amidst a changing workforce. A significant number of employees today are embracing an emergent attitude and looking for an employer who does the same. As a result, 100% of the American workforce is either equally satisfied or more satisfied working in an emergent company.

click chart to enlarge

Why the shift? Sherion believes that whether people personally lost a job or not, the downsizing of the '80s and '90s created a paradigm shift in the way people view their work life and manage their careers. Most are taking their careers into their own hands and focusing on opportunities for growth and development to ensure their own career security. They also have more positive views about job change and are more confident about their marketability. But don't confuse these values with a lack of loyalty.

According to the study, emergent workers are just as loyal and have changed employers no more frequently than traditional workers. However, they define loyalty quite differently than traditional employees do. Emergent employees equate loyalty with high performance - the level of contribution an employee makes to an organization, not tenure.

Emergent employees working in emergent environments report the hightest levels of satisfaction with their work life and are unlikely to remain with a traditional company. Migrating employees display similar tendencies, also preferring emergent companies to traditional ones. Somewhat less predictable, however, is the fact that traditional employees are just as satisfied in emergent environments as they are in traditional environments.

We would like to thank our members Don Ruggery and Adam Alexander of Spherion for sharing this study with us. To find out more about this sudy and Spherion they can be reached here in Southpointe at Plaza II, Suite 130 or phone them at 724-745-5767.

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