Revisions to the notion of work and the evolution of benefits are two workplace concepts that have quietly changed during the past 10 years. A more individualized legal view, a new emphasis on "engaging" employees, the growing reluctance of workers to "live to work" and the new concept of HR branding round out the list.

By Anne Freedman

December 30, 2009

Instead of highlighting some of the most obvious happenings of the past 10 years, HREOnline ^TM went digging for some of the overlooked trends -- changes that slid into the picture without that burst of recognition accompanying them.

The Notion of Work

While social networking is getting all of the hype, it may be better to take a step back and look at the ability of the Internet overall in the way it affected the workforce.

No longer are employees chained to their desks and phones -- or even, their native countries. No longer is an organization's work done only by employees, but more and more, it's done by independent contractors, temporary workers, consultants and vendors. No longer is work judged on the number of hours an employee sits at his desk, but on the quality and quantity of his output instead.

In fact, no longer do organizations need face-to-face meetings to lay off or terminate employees -- for some, text messages and e-mail are sufficient.

Susan Meisinger, former CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va., notes that the Internet has "tentacles into everything" and is "an extraordinarily powerful force for changing the business."

The changing profile of worker has crept into the legal realm as well, as HR leaders struggle to properly classify those who are -- and are not -- employees. The new "notion of work" also creates "chaos" when classifying exempt vs. nonexempt "because people don't supervise people anymore," says Lawrence Lorber, a partner with Proskauer Rose in Washington.

Lorber also notes the confusion as it regards the responsibilities of employers as it relates to telecommuters. For example, he asks, do workplace regulations set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration apply to employees who work from their homes?

Narrowing Employment Law

Also overlooked during the decade has been the trend of the courts -- especially the U.S. Supreme Court -- toward more individualized treatment vs. generalizations. The courts have narrowed the scope and focus of employment law, Lorber says. That was true for Rehnquist court and has been continued by the Roberts court.

"There's less of an overarching theme. It's individualized the treatment of people," he says. "Even for the HR people, who would not like these class actions -- they hate them -- but it makes life easier to make generalized rules. To make individualized assessments, that's tough. And that has lots of ramifications in practice."

At the same time, he says, the workplace has become the cauldron for legislative brews to redress society's differences -- with revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act, the adoption of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the effective date of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and other laws and regulations.

"What's happening," Lorber says, "is the law of the workplace has really become the whole way of trying to deal with benefits and other conditions."

Engaging Employees

The "trust relationship" between employer and employee is on "incredibly thin ice," says Meisinger, who doubts that "ice will ever get thicker." And that trust is necessary, she says, if companies are going to accomplish their strategic goals.

Even the majority of senior leaders admit they have a "less than ideal emotion connection and alignment" to their organizations, according to a survey in 2008 by Blessing White, a Skillman, N.J. based consulting firm.

Possibly in response to that, HR leaders are refocusing their efforts toward employee engagement.

"Now," says futurist Joyce Gioia of The Herman Group in Greensboro, N.C., "people are understanding that it's not just holding onto people, but it's making sure they are engaged when they are working with you. That makes the biggest difference in terms of the bottom line."

And increasingly, HR consulting companies now measure "engagement" as part of their polling efforts -- although a consensus on defining that term continues to elude unanimity.

Working to Live

Certainly, the term "work/life balance" was not an obscure one during the past decade, but lurking below the term has been the actual activities of many workers -- of a variety of ages -- who simply do not want to "live to work." Increasingly, men and women are content with not reaching for the gold ring.

One survey in 2006 by New York-based Association of Executive Search Consultants found that 56 percent of senior executives would pass up a promotion in an effort to ensure a better life outside of work, while another study, by the Harvard Business Review in 2003, found more and more women opting out of leadership roles.

And a 2007 survey, by Maynard, Mass.-based Monster found that eight in 10 working dads view companies more positively if they offer a flex-time benefit and nearly that many say bringing work home during the week affects a dad's relationship with his children.

And Gen X and Gen Y employees are only more insistent on the concept, according to many studies.

Evolution of Benefits

Pensions are increasingly a blast from the past and the structure of healthcare coverage continues to evolve -- with no end in sight -- although for some employers, their range of sight has extended into what previously was considered private lives, as the desire for cost-cutting has morphed into the creation of wellness initiatives and the policing of lifestyles for smoking or overeating.

During the same timeframe, the view of benefits has evolved to one of total rewards. The focus has changed to a holistic view that includes everything from paid sick leave to compensation and bonuses.

The term, total rewards, emerged as a concept in the 1990s, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based WorldatWork, but it really took hold these past 10 years, as organizations more and more began grouping benefits, compensation and other programs together when communicating about their total-rewards programs to employees.

Employers have also shifted to more variable pay -- making bonuses more prominent for more levels of the organization, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School in Philadelphia.

HR Branding

Beginning in the late '90s and continuing this decade has been the trend toward thinking about recruiting as marketing, Cappelli says.

"That's come and gone a little bit with how tight the labor market is, but it's still around," he says.

Coinciding with that branding has been the increased level of importance CEOs have placed on recruiting and retention, he says, noting that retention was never an issue before the late '90s.

"If you go back and look, there's nothing on it. It was lifetime employment and downsizings," Cappelli says.

And as lifetime employment continues its fade into the memory hole, the concern about succession planning and management pipelines has increased, he says. Companies, more and more, are talking about the pros and cons of internal development vs. outside hiring.

Looking for a shorter-term view? Here are our list of the top stories of 2009 as well as the most-viewed HREOnline ^TM stories of the year.

Please use the "write to the editor" link above to offer your thoughts.

December 30, 2009

Copyright 2009© LRP Publications