Gone are the days where people stayed with the same company for 45 years, starting in the mailroom and ending up in management. But there are many other changes afoot. The world of work is no longer the same place our parents knew.
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A master of all trades. Many people these days are trained to do more than one job. Engineers end up as financial advisers, teachers as advertising copywriters or franchise owners, and business graduates as designers or desktop publishers. Gone are the days where you begin and end your working life in a single profession – these days you are required to be a master of more trades than you were trained to be.
The nine-to-five prison. Fixed working hours should have died out with the seventies. They are counterproductive and demoralising. Flexitime is so much more worker-friendly, since it allows the worker's job to fit in with other realities of life, such as the prizegiving at the kindergarten or a visit to the doctor. A timesheet can record working hours to make sure that the requisite number is worked, but having to ask for an hour off if you're 48 is simply demeaning. Fortunately most enlightened companies have made the switch – if yours hasn't, maybe you should make a switch?
The woman as breadwinner. More and more it is happening that women are bringing home the bacon and men choose to stay at home and run the household. And why not, if the woman happens to be able to earn more? Running a household is a time-consuming and exacting task, which is difficult to do in conjunction with a full-time job.
Job security. Most people will go through at least one retrenchment in their lives. Probably more. Companies take on lots of people in good times and retrench lots of people in bad times. Such is life. But this apparent callous ditching of 'resources' is sometimes unavoidable and sometimes comes from the other side as well. Many a valued worker has given notice after being head-hunted for a more lucrative position. Point is, both companies and workers cannot rely on permanence.
Work from home. Many people work from home, saving the company space and costs with regards to infrastructure. Telephones and e-mail and fax machines have made this possible. This is probably the direction in which things are moving in the future, so get equipped for it.
One worker, many bosses. A person working from home for several different companies is also something that is becoming more and more prevalent. There was a time when people who freelanced lived on the edge and their financial situation would be good one month and bad the next. This has changed, in that many people who do this, now have fixed contracts and work as highly-paid consultants.
Exit interviews. If a working situation was intolerable, many people simply resigned, and in the past not too many questions were asked. Now people who work for enlightened companies, are given exit interviews, where their reasons for resignation are discussed. Should these reasons include unacceptable behaviour on the part of other employees/bosses, the matter is investigated, in order to prevent a flurry of resignations.
Fringe benefits. Often, in the past, people would not leave companies where they had worked for a considerable length of time, as it would hamper their pension provisions. These days, pensions can be transferred and company cars bought. More and more companies are outsourcing things such as medical aids, which means that should an employee leave, he/she can continue to be a member of the medical aid in question.
Sick leave. Many companies have got wise to the fact that employees often abuse sick leave. There is now a limit to the amount of sick leave people can take, and many companies require medical certificates, often from their own company doctors, when people are off work for more than two days, or before or after a weekend. Should an employee exceed the amount of sick leave available, normal leave has to be taken or, if the employee's condition warrants it, the possibility of boarding is investigated.
The electronic age. Gone are the days of not being computer-literate. These days it is an essential for any job, from cashier, to vet, to teacher to artist. Everyone needs to get with the times. There is also a growing sense of urgency to deliver – e-mails must be answered the same day, faxes can't get lost in the mail and cellphone messages also require same-day attention. In short, with the advent of the electronic age, you need to priorotise duties and manage your time more effectively than before.
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