Predicting The Unpredictable – What Is Causing The Mass Shift In Employee Expectations?

Workplace culture has hit a pivotal moment in time, where discourse about traditional work expectations is being challenged at levels unseen before. 

The pandemic undoubtedly tipped the scales over into workplace chaos, but the changes that have occurred in recent years were already bubbling to the surface. Dissatisfaction at work became less of an intrusive thought, companies participated in mass layoffs (and hiring sprees) and labor unions began to resurge after decades of plateaus.   

So how do employers predict the unpredictable? 

The most recent factors impacting companies have been inflation, fluctuating consumer demand and employee empowerment.  

Although companies were eager to add jobs in the months following vaccine availability, layoffs soon became a reality for many industries. For others, the Great Resignation continued to leave employers with little choice but to reexamine their long-standing policies in an effort to retain workers.   

While employers have juggled with solutions to maintain a healthy culture amidst the chaos, workers have taken matters into their own hands. 

Workers from all corners of the workforce, including baristas and nurses, have begun petitioning to unionize and openly protesting against what they believe are unfair work practices.  

Among these demands are better pay to keep up with inflation, longer breaks, more paid time off and, perhaps most notably, increased workplace flexibility. Notice a trend?   

To say the dynamic between employers and employees has shifted would be an understatement. Claiming workers’ rights isn’t just enough to retain top talent — employers must follow through with their promises or delve further into chaos in the future.