Social Trust and Employment Trends

This article points out a very interesting trend – less people are moving to find new work. It may seem inconsequential or obvious, but the effects and projected reasons behind this trend are evocative of a greater problem: a drastic decline in social trust. According to the studies presented here, people seem to be staying in jobs that they aren’t happy with because they’re afraid of changing. This not only causes a downturn in productivity, but it also means that many workers are foregoing raises and other benefits that often come with job shifts. It shows a fundamental lack of trust in the economic system and job market – people are terrified of a switch that may leave them worse off than they were before. It’s really thought-provoking to understand how the ways we think about employment fundamentally shift our entire society’s point of view. You can read more about this at The New York Times. 

Photo: A home in Detroit scheduled to be demolished. Image by Fabrizio Costantini/Bloomberg via NYT

Millennial Employees and the Financial Industry

BRINSON + BANKS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

This article clearly displays the disconnect between upper managers in the financial industry and their employees. Millennial employees are leaving in droves, feeling underutilized and unengaged, and large banks are struggling to keep them happy in the face of mass layoffs of older employees to cut costs. When managers show a fundamental lack of understanding about how their workers think and feel, there’s no question that something will have to give. More data about how employees feel, like the study I’m working on with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, The Emotion Revolution in the Workplace, will help employers better understand their employees’ perspectives, and hopefully motivate businesses to solve their employment problems. You can read more about this at The Wall Street Journal.

Picture Info: Steve Wu, a millennial who left his banking job for greener pastures. 

The Effect of Temporary Workers on the Job Market

Photo: Sam Hodgson for NYT

The idea that the main growth of the American job market is composed of “gig” jobs – contractors and temporary workers – is troubling in and of itself. However, the added lens of ageism makes this notion more disturbing. By employing short-term workers, businesses are encouraging a culture that cuts out support for employees – especially workers over 45 with more than 10 years of service for their companies, who are exactly the people contracted employees are most likely to replace. This reminds me of a story from January about Disney employees who were laid off for contract employees that they were then asked to train for the jobs they were vacating. While that particular case may not be explicitly related to ageism, I would not be surprised if most layoffs in favor of contracted or temporary employees hurt older workers. Read the full story at The New York Times.