Working for the man? Not in the future, workers say
The workplace of the future may be a far cry from the desk-driven, eight-hour-a-day jobs that defined corporate America for much of the 20th century.
At least, that's what workers believe. A majority of 1,385 U.S. employees who were polled in a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers said they believe the eight-hour workday will become obsolete, while 68 percent said they believe work will be done outside a traditional office. More than three-quarters said they believe their healthcare and retirement benefits will be their own responsibility.
In a way, corporate America has already arrived at the future, given that few college-educated office workers today are working a standard eight-hour day. Many if not most are checking their email at night or handling some work on the weekends, blurring the division between the personal and work spheres. And the freelance nation looks like it's destined to get even bigger, given that four out of 10 non-independent workers said they expect to become freelancers within the next five years.
"There are two pivot points and a pendulum swing: the traditional eight hour, Monday to Friday job. That's the legacy of our parents and grandparents, but it's still very much in existence today," said Justin Sturrock, an executive with PwC's People & Organization practice. "On the other spectrum is the freelance economy. It's 'me as a brand.' We're saying the future of work is less futuristic than many would have you think."
In other words: Corporations may need to swing toward providing the flexibility of the independent worker to keep their employees satisfied. Flexibility is clearly key to helping workers feel satisfied, with the PwC report noting that employees who can work at home at least one day a week are more likely to say they're happy at work.
There's a disconnect between how workers and employers view each other, the report found. About six out of 10 employers said they view their relationship with their workers as a "committed partnership," but only 33 percent of employees under the age of 35 said they viewed their employers in the same way.
The report appears to uncover a fair amount of cynicism on the part of employees, given the lack of faith that corporations will provide workers healthcare and benefits in the future. That may reflect some of the pain of the recession, when layoffs hit many households and pushed more people into independent work.
Interestingly, millennials aren't the fancy-free workers that are portrayed in pop culture. Members of this generation, while prizing flexibility and autonomy, are actually less likely than older workers to seek an independent career path, the survey found. Americans who are 50 and older are about two times as likely to want to work independently as workers between 18 to 34.
"The younger generation, despite literature about millennials wanting to build their own brand, are looking for security," Sturrock said. "People who are most comfortable and content are older workers who are doing freelancing-type jobs."