“As America pauses for Labor Day, more people have jobs than ever before and the unemployment rate is close to its lowest level in a generation. At the same time, people are less likely to keep their jobs for long periods and the level of layoffs is considerably higher than it was in earlier economic cycles. … That mobility of workers – sometimes voluntarily through getting better jobs and sometimes involuntarily through layoffs and downsizing – reflects a worldwide trend. Countries that have accepted it tend to do much better economically than those that have not, although at a cost of increased worker anxiety.”[i]
What are the new work rules? Just read Dilbert. Scott Adams may be today’s foremost analyst of workplace change. Scott Adams in his wonderfully funny and too personal strip reveals the cynicism and impacts going on around us at work. Brand U’s are positive, can-do types, who eventually morph into anti-Dilberts. We still laugh at the strip but do all we can not to fall into Dilbert traps.
[i] “More Jobs, Less Security,” NY Times Editorial, September 7, 1998, p. A 16.