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Women and the World of Work
On May 8, 2001, my friend and colleague Ellen Blizinsky, Vice President of Community Relations, Working Solutions, (Seattle WA), and I presented a workshop titled Recruiting and Retaining the Mature Worker at the annual conference of WorldatWork. As their Executive Director, Anne Ruddy, wrote in a note to me, WorldatWork, (formerly the American Compensation Association), made a decision to move beyond the "metrics of compensation" (her phrase.) Our workshop was a fit to their broadened scope.
Our presentation included discussion of what the midlife and beyond transitions are and how these effect one's "world view." Purpose, meaning, and legacy emerge as important issues. Work/life balance becomes even more compelling. This tends to re-cast not only what is important but the demands on our time, emotions, and energies as well. Work and life often seem to be at odds with one another. And, because we - and our parents - are living longer - benefits that fund later decades become more critical. However, our presentation was unique in the context of the total conference.
I used my time at this well-managed conference to attend as many presentations as possible. Many were (still) on the topic of benefits. All the "heavy hitters" were represented: Schwab, Fidelity, The Hay Group, et al., etc. Numerous discussions included adjustments to benefits to accommodate the current circumstances of the maturing workplace. Some presentations needed to be revised close to the last minute because of changes in some sectors of the economy. For example, the Director/Compensation of Broadcom Corp. expected to discuss managing millionaires - employees whose stock options position them to, as he put it, "…call in 'rich' one day…") Broadcom is a Silicon Valley company. By the time of the presentation, the talk was about managing a workforce whose benefit assets are "under water." This company worked with a local bank to structure loans for the employees, providing them some liquidity while dotcom and related stocks stabilize. "Under water" became a recurring theme. We all are aware of the spectacular rise and precipitous plunge many dotcoms and related industries have experienced, but unless touched personally by this particular roller coaster ride, we may not realize how unsettling the situation is for the employees effected. It goes a lot deeper than cartoons in New Yorker magazine.
New hiring, training, and employment models have emerged.
There is a traceable relationship between these and the failure rates
of hi-tech companies. While going from owning the water to under the
water is a serious change, I think these new models contain more profound
implications. For example: The Sunday opening session was key-noted
by Bruce Tulgan. He is regarded as an expert
on Gen.X work force issues. Obviously,
Gen Xers are not mature workers, but cohorts
are sharing workspace and that has affects. For all working cohorts,
the pattern of cradle to coffin tenure with the same employer is a
thing of the past. With few exceptions, (family-owned businesses could
be one); children following their parents' footsteps to the same personnel
and payroll offices has become history. But what has replaced that
paradigm? Here are some of the less "radical" tenets Mr. Tulgan offered:
1. Turning managers into "coaches" - (job coaches) - this is an
appeal to the mature worker, in particular. People in midlife and beyond
seek meaning and purpose, and mentoring responds to this, as well as the
concept of Generativity. Tulgan didn't
reflect on this; it's my take. Regardless, coaching also reduces the loss
of intellectual capital - which is a serious concern for many companies.
2. Staffing for the work, not the job - (note the difference in
terms; it's significant.) This is equivalent to "just in time manufacturing/inventory" and
all it implies. It also reduces training time and needs; and, when staffing
for the work only, makes even more contingent workers of employees -
which often represents a reduction of the labor burden to the payroll.
3. Training for the mission, not the long haul. (see above)
If it seems that this is rather thin in terms of either recruiting or retaining the mature worker, you are correct. In addition, when you operationalize these, one casualty is loyalty. Conceptually, another is the impact on benefits of shorter-term tenure with one or more employers. Women are still paid less than men for comparable work, (approximately $.75 for every $1 a man is paid.) Since the conference I had cause to thumb through many of my classroom papers. The issue of equal pay is close in age to our mature workers! John Milton wrote, "They also serve who only stand and wait." [On His Blindness] Personally, I'm long past being tired of serving and waiting; and it strikes me as especially ironic that the line comes from a piece on blindness…
Helen Fisher's wonderful book The First Sex was published in 1999. I was truly encouraged - excited, even - to read her interpretation of the "why" of how men and women are "hard wired" and how those characteristics for which women have been penalized over the centuries were now going to move them forward, at long last, in business and politics. (The book is reviewed on my website. Fisher is an anthropologist.) Fisher writes about "web thinking" - greater than multi-tasking - as essential for success in both the team model and our global enterprise universe. Having attended this earth-bound conference and listened to the folks who make the rules and, more critically, implement them; I fear we - women - are not much better than when Arlie Hochschild published The Second Shift, (1989), followed by Time Bind. This can be very dispiriting. As a woman in midlife, I haven't got much time for being dispirited - seems counter to the point.
An overwhelming number of small businesses founded in
the