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"What could the workplace look like if it were designed to promote both
organizational and individual flexibility, and what must executives and
individuals do to realize this vision?"
That question drove the Career Innovation Company (CI) out of
Oxford, England, to conduct a global survey of knowledge workers. Its
results point to a workforce that is fairly disenchanted with the
traditional structures of work that still dominate the market.
Here are some of the top line results of CI's survey:
*55% are dissatisfied with their sense of achievement at work *56%
are dissatisfied with their ability to achieve work-life balance *52%
are dissatisfied with their ability to gain new experiences *54% are
dissatisfied with the way their skills are being used
Since work is unsatisfying for over half the workforce, it is time
to re-think the rules of productive labor. Changes already are underway
in many companies, for the most part due to the demand of talented
workers for new arrangements.
I am lucky to be on the staff of an innovative non-profit. For the
past five years I have served as Executive Editor of Sojourners
magazine [hyperlink], headquartered in Washington, DC. When the chief
executive of Sojourners, Jim Wallis, initially asked me to come on
staff and help the magazine create an online presence that would
enhance its magazine constituency, I balked because I did not want to
leave my home on the other side of the country in San Francisco nor
leave my tenured faculty position at the University of San Francisco.
Sojourners was imaginative enough to see that I could do my work -
albeit with some hurdles that distance does create - without having to
be present in the DC office. The organization also adapted to the idea
that I could carry more than one "job title" - professor and editor.
The wonders of new technologies, of course, make this arrangement
possible.
Evidently, there are heaps of other people out there who are looking
for innovative ways to practice their vocation. Using its research as a
springboard, the CI group came up with a "Manifesto" to address the
need for more flexibility and creativity in the employment contract.
The Manifesto recommends six strategies:
1) Work should be defined in roles that play to people's strengths
How many search committees have you served on where the job
position was defined by "tasks" rather than capacities? I quickly lose
patience, because the fast-changing pace of organizational life begs
for talent that can learn-to-learn, and adapt skills to changing
demands. In that spirit, the global charity Oxfam is moving away from
traditional job descriptions. Oxfam internally uses the language of
"cut and paste" personnel, meaning its employees may be deployed in
transitional teams to enable rapid response to unplanned humanitarian
crises.
2) Most employers don't need exclusive control
According to CI research, 10% of full-time workers and 28% of
part-timers have at least one other job. It is a growing trend:
Organizations see an advantage in allowing their workers to perform in
other, non-competing enterprises. They gain broader knowledge and
diverse experience that enhances their capacities. Short of that,
managers should begin to share talent between business units,
encouraging skill mobility within their own company.
3) Design learning into work
Traditional hire-and-fire methods (including the churn of
outsourcing) carries a high, though hidden, cost. Any manager with her
salt can tell you that turnover is wasteful and expensive, hurts morale
and depletes knowledge.
The future belongs to those firms that figure out how to re-train
and re-deploy their talent. CI points to the pay-off in Bell Canada's
investment in its "Bell People First" learning program. The company
figures it saved $46 million at a re-training cost of just $7m - a 600%
return.
4) Define work in projects, not weeks or years
Why is most work divided into 35-40 hour chunks? Most customer
needs have little or no connection to the working week. We are seeing
this transition in the workplace already - line managers are being
replaced by project managers, and many workers report to more than one
boss.
Years ago I changed the conversation with my consulting clients.
When asked what I would charge per hour, I asked them what results they
wanted me to achieve, and based on that I gave them a project cost. In
that way, I maintain control over how, when, and where I do my work.
The benefit for the client side, they know exactly how much to budget
for the project.
5) Work commitments can be fitted to phase of life
Women who leave the workplace for maternity leave often are
made to feel like exiles upon their return. In the emerging workplace,
they are the model of a non-traditional career. A rising body of
workers are moving in and out of employment to spend time in the
non-profit sector, or to become self-employed, or to take care of an
aging parent. The aging of the workforce will accelerate the demand for
flexibility. The CI survey revealed that 97% of those nearing
retirement said that they would be willing to do paid work after they
start drawing a pension.
6) We can choose where we work most productively
The office does not have to be the primary location for work.
Once workers are judged by their outcomes, they can discern the most
productive location for their tasks. SunMicrosystems made a concerted
effort to free its knowledge workers from the office in 2004, and saved
nearly $71 million in real estate costs, according to the CI study.
Beyond the telecommuter, companies need to reconsider the design of
office spaces in order to maximize team formation, creativity and
accelerated decision making.
I trust that the CI Manifesto does not come across as science
fiction to you. The world of work is changing, at a differing pace in
unique industries and geographical locations. But a "new deal" is
emerging, and all workers - and the companies that seek their talent -
should re-assess their assumptions about what would make them a
valuable player.
Download the CI Manifesto for free.
Write your own manifesto on how you would like to see the world of work change:
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