Keeping pace with workplace trends.

Brown, Bettina Lankard

Trends in the changing workplace have created employment practices that have implications for career development.

Company downsizing, early retirement buyouts and the growing use of outsourcing has led some people to fear that full-time employment will not be available to them. But, new configurations of workers and alternative work arrangements do not necessarily signify lost employment opportunities.

The new "partnership" relationship between employer and employee, which is reportedly replacing the old "parent-child" relationship, emphasizes worker employability. In the "partnership" relationship, employers provide employees with opportunities for career and skill development and employees take advantage of the opportunities they are given to enhance their skills, marketability and potential for continued employment. Philosophically, this employer-employee tradeoff is equally beneficial. Employers invest time and money in their employees' growth, employees learn updated skills that are reflected in improved productivity and increased company profits, and employers realize a good return on investment. In practice, however, the cycle is not always completed.

Loyalty, which seems a natural outgrowth of the give-and-take process, may be too elusive to rely on chance. From the onset, organizations deciding to upgrade the skills and employability of their employees have been concerned that they could lose the workers they train to their competition. Too many employees are jumping ship before the costs for training them have been recouped. As a result, many organizations are now developing employment contracts that bind employees to the organization, ensuring loyalty on both sides. For workers, this practice requires new skills of contract awareness and negotiation.

Most adults are aware of the need for up-to-date occupational, academic and employability skills as well as flexibility and adaptability to changing workplace conditions. However, in today's employment scene, knowledge of contract law and strategies for contract negotiation have become essential. Initially, employment contracts were offered only to top management; today mid-level employees are being asked to sign as well.

Job security afforded through the new employment contract differs from that promised in the old contracts. In the old contracts, the employee was the beneficiary. Today employers benefit, locking in valued employees and restricting their mobility. To keep their key people, employers are offering them rich helpings of... employment compensation. [These], however, come with restrictions that protect and benefit the employer. One such restriction is the payback clause, requiring employees to remain with the company until they have repaid any relocation or training expenses... [a noncompete] clause restricts an employee from working for a direct competitor for a given period of time. In some cases, this time could extend to and beyond two years...

One way to ensure employment on mutually acceptable terms is to have the skills that employers want. However, knowledge of how to interpret the conditions of employment and understand their implications for career self-management is important for employment security. Both pre-hire and exit agreements are legal and increasingly common in the workplace.

In a youth-oriented society, diminishing value has been placed on wisdom and experience - two qualities descriptive of older workers. As a result, companies have used economics to guide their decisions to replace older, more experienced workers with younger, cheaper ones. Into the next century, there may be some serious ramifications of such age bias. Reversing the focus on youth and directing it instead to older workers will necessitate changes in work patterns, training and technology applications. Companies will have to consider new approaches and options to retain and recruit these workers to the workplace.

For the career development educator, all of these trends indicate a need to prepare students for more than changing technology and economic realities. Perhaps we need to add the changing conditions of employment, alternative work arrangements and population data to our curricula. Career development in the education and training of youth and adults must move to new levels to keep up with these workplace developments. Creative thinking and problem solving may have a new focus as workers strive to navigate through new and uncharted employment practices.

Bettina Lankard Brown is a program associate at the Center on Education and Training for Employment at Ohio State University. This article is adapted from "The Future of Career Development," part of the Myths and Realities series produced by Ohio State University's Center on Education and Training for Employment and U.S. Department of Educational Research and Improvement.