A recent survey from Adecco Group North America highlights the increased dissatisfaction workers in America have with their employers. According to the survey, 54% of employees plan to look for a new job as soon as the economy turns around. The sentiment is even stronger among younger workers. Of those ages 18-29, 71% say they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around, the survey said.
I like to call this phenomena the Running of the Bulls American Style. When the flood gates open (and they will) millions of workers will flee those companies where they are being asked to do two, or in some cases three jobs, for the same amount of pay. Or better yet, they have taken the mandatory 10% across the board pay cut just so they can keep their jobs.
I'm still having a difficult time understanding why companies are operating like business is usual. It is anything but! We moved into this recession slowly, with few people even realizing we were here until we were knee deep into this. We will come out of this the same way. Very slowly.
This is the time for employers to assess their workplace and make changes before the gates begin to open. Or they may wake up one day to find that the only person left in the office is the owner.
The thing is that X's want some measure of security, but we never really believed in it in the first place. We've seen the mom-and-pop store be over-run by mega-chains, dot-com start-ups wither and die, and our own venerable institutions scam and bilk the innocent. Never forget that we grew up on junk bonds and junk food. We expect to pay more and get less every single year. None of this is a surprise. Boomers grew up fearing Communists and Big Brother. We grew up fearing Boomers. And you can bet that we won't put our necks out so they can get chopped off by their banks and non-competitive practices. We will work for the Boomers in their companies, on their payrolls, under their insurance, until they implode. If the Boomers were smart, and many aren't, they would make partners out of the X's as fast as possible. That is the only way to get us to care. Until we are treated as peers and equals by the Boomers, we will find new and devastating ways of show you how wrong you are. But if you give us a seat at the table, we will make geniuses out of you Boomers and allow you to go off and enjoy the retirement you expected. BTW, we never thought we'd be able to retire so we aren't going to be disappointed by the late invitation to join the grown-up table.
Posted by: | September 15, 2009 at 11:27 AM