Thursday, January 13, 2005

Gold-Collar Workers


http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-2/gold.html

The American workforce is becoming more and more diverse with an increasing proportion of women, persons of color, and older employees. Trends in Canada and the European Union are similar. Besides more diversity, two especially important and contradictory workforce characteristics are (1) the impact of generation X or "Gold-Collar" workers (those born between 1965 and 1977), and (2) the impact of poor educational preparation of some high school graduates. In fact, U.S. test scores were the lowest in one comparison of 16 industrialized countries. Both characteristics present a current OB challenge but in very different ways.

The list below shows that the Gold-Collar Generation X workers demand a lot from a company. They want a challenge on the job and flexibility in work schedules; some even want to work at home. But they also want to work in teams, and they are interested in empowerment - being allowed as an individual or group to make decisions that affect their work. These needs, wants, and desires are likely to be the strongest for knowledge workers - employees whose major task is to produce new knowledge, typically through computer-oriented means - and other jobs with workers in high demand and low supply. The level of skills and abilities among many of these workers allows them to function well in highly challenging jobs and work settings.

Below are the values and preferences of the Gold-Collar workforce:

Today’s employee needs, wants, and desires at work:
· Self-control and independence
· Empowerment
· Let people furnish their own offices
· Signing bonus
· Full-tuition reimbursement
· Flex benefits
· Work in a team
· Casual Friday to everyday is casual
· Work at home
· Extended family benefits
· Self-fulfillment
· Fun
· Company loyalty is dead
· Flextime work hours

Article taken from Organizational Behavior by Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (Wiley)

posted by Mark Dowds @ Thursday, January 13, 2005