"Workshock"
Kirk SnyderDecember 9, 2011
As I conclude my latest research project, it is crystal clear that the American worker is undergoing a complete cultural rewiring led by an emerging new society of CEO’s, managers, and employees. The world of work is experiencing a seismic shift because a new breed of professional player—from the factory floor to the C-Suite—are in the process of reinventing the meaning of the work across America.
More important to you and I is the fact that there is no turning back. There is no pulling the plug on the cultural rewiring of the American worker because it is an evolutionary by-product of our transition from a society held together by the fear of the unknown to one where traditional fears are shattered every time we connect to the known through our preferred pipeline of personal connection--laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. In this sense, I believe that "knowingness" is changing how we live our lives. In fact, as 2012 begins to dawn, our ability to possses knowingness is reaching almost omnipotent proportions.
Every second, today's mainstream masses are turning the unknown into the known in exponential quantities because connection has granted us the power to find out answers to virtually any question we have about anything that exists in the world. As a result, it is changing the criteria we use to seek and find professional meaning because all of that knowingness rearranges our worldview, and as a result, changes our beliefs and values. Therefore, what once was important to employees is no longer as important or even relevant. It’s why today, as we prepare for a brand new year, all across the nation, American workers are reporting the lowest levels of job satisfaction in the history of the world of work. And it isn’t about the poor economy or the political climate or bad bosses or lazy employees. It’s about a systemic and gut level evolution of the American worker that is creating a scrambling of professional beliefs, ideals and behaviors that I call workshock. Stay tuned for more…
Reader Comments (2)
I agree that when we"re unafraid we respond differently to traditional motivators on the job. Where does it end? In chaos? I see it happening in the fortune 100 company I work for with more employees fed up. Occupy Wall Street except in companies.
Your analogy to OWS is a good one. It is simply another by-product of a society in transition. The cultural rewiring of the American worker does not end in chaos, although for many people it may feel that way when you are in what I call the "transition storm."