Changes In The Workforce

Over the last couple of years there have been new trends that have emerged in the workforce. There has been the introduction of the greybeards which are the workers from the baby boomer era who are reaching their 50's. Then there is the Tech Savvy youth movement which was started by the web bubble, and finally women have become a stronger force not just in the office but in the classroom of MBA programs around the nation. Traditionally, the workforce was predominantly males who were in there late 20's early 40's who ran the workplace and were on the decision boards of their respective organization. But now that the baby boomers are reaching their 50's and the youth & women's movement is coming on strong there are many problems that companies encounter while trying to satisfy all the members of those particular groups as they experience the differences in the workplace and labor force.

The growth in the labor markets has remained steady throughout the years. Job growth continues at a slow pace. The Houston Chronicle shows that in the fourth largest city in the U.S. unemployment fell to 5.3 percent but most Houstonians feel less secure about their jobs. (Sixel, 2005, p. 1) When asked why, a couple of the responses were that they were not satisfied with their jobs or that they were going to go back to school to pursue higher education or retrain the thought process with new insight and new ways of thinking. Employment opportunities are opening up but they are being targeted towards entry level or contract staff. Mark Zandi, who is an economist at economy.com, summarized the situation by stating that "Businesses are creating enough jobs to keep the economy moving forward, but not enough to reduce the number of unemployed or underemployed people." (J., 2005, p. A.2) This has led the work force groups scrambling for positions that they might be overqualified to take, but due to the circumstances would have no other alternatives.

The group which has benefited the most from these new openings has been the youthful twenty-something who is very technologically savvy and is classified by companies as up-and-comers at tender ages. As these employees corporate track was being paved, employers reap the benefits because they bring fresh minds that have flexible work schedules, new ideas, and more importantly come very cheaply to a major company who is looking at their bottom line. These candidates have little to minimal experience but carry little investment attached to them so in the long run a company will reap the benefits of their investments when their new faces reach their potential. This process is cheaper than hiring a seasoned veteran who would probably demand a higher salary to go along with his or her experience and expertise. As the youthful high-flyers were hired it created a problem within the company. Since the company had invested so much on the potential of their newly hired employees, it wanted its investment to reach their full promise and that created a problem. These young guns were being stopped from advancing by the middle-aged managers who occupied rungs along the route. These managers were given the name of being blockers which eventually had to be removed. G.E., one of the companies faced with this issue, devised an elaborate system to weed out blockers and other laggards in masse. G.E. evaluated and placed its employees in three tiers. The top twenty percent or the A-high potential, the middle seventy percent were solid or spectacular B players, the bottom ten percent were C's and they were gone. Employees who were at the top called it "vitality curve" while those on the receiving end called it "dead man's curve." (Helyar & Fisher, 2005, p. 78) Older employees felt threatened by this approach and considered it unfair as they were being targeted, which led to age discrimination complaints.

This leads to the second group, the gray-hairs, as they are called by some. This group has lost the most from the changes in the work force. Many of these workers are in their late forties and are supposed to be at their peak earning potential, but as the markets have asked for youth many of these workers have been laid off and had to scramble to find other jobs and still find nothing. Just imagine that there is a position, where a person feels job security and has a great salary that enables them to live comfortably, by this time most have settled down and started families, and then it all changes when there in the office a pink slip is waiting. Not only is it a blow to the ego, but also to life because now the feeling of starting over has hit and part of the new cold world of the prematurely, involuntarily retired. Many of the displaced workers complain that it is not just a salary that affects them but the sense of uselessness felt by many who are unable to find other jobs. Many tried to fulfill their need by serving on non-profit boards and consulting gigs. Linda Stalely, 52 was an information technology manager who was released by the pharmaceutical company that employed her said that "your self-worth, your self-confidence just takes a nose dive," after experiencing a breaking point after her firing. It takes the average laid-off executive more than eight months to find a new position and some of the discarded executives of certain age may never find that new position. (Helyar & Fisher, 2005, p. 78) The other problem