One of my favorite blogs is Small Business Labs by Emergent Research. I caught this post by blogger Steve King on the “emergent workforce” and thought it was worth sharing.

King points to a Spherion report titled, “The Ever-Changing Portrait of the American Workforce.” That report researched the changing values and attitudes of the “emerging workforce” in America and is worth a read.

Steve believes one-third of our workforce is made up of these “emergent workers” who have the following values:

1. They believe they are in charge of their careers.
2. They believe they should be rewarded based on performance, not tenure.
3. They are drawn to environments with frequent change and excitement.
4. They want the opportunity to contribute at a high level.
5. They don’t want to be bogged down by rule, regulations and micromanagement.
6. They are interested in work / life balance.
7. They are less driven by job security and safety.

Interestingly, they are not exclusively the now-famous “Gen Y” group, although these are that generation’s primary beliefs about work. The other point that stuck out for me is that these are often the beliefs of high performers, regardless of their generational affiliation.

King ends his post with one of the conclusions of the study: “Emergent workers won’t fret if their employer doesn’t embrace these values or offer such an environment. They will simply leave.”

So the question is: What are you doing to manage these “emergent workers?”

By the way, this is a major focus at the MACPA – talent management and human capital development. It will be the subject of several sessions at our upcoming conferences and our popular BLI course titled, “Leadership and Generations: What are They Thinking?”

• Business and Industry Conference, May 16, 2008
• Maryland Business and Accounting Expo, June 17-18