What every employer needs to know about today’s employee expectations

Over the last decade, employee expectations in the workplace have changed in a variety of interesting ways. Technological advances, a steady march toward globalization, unionization, and societal disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic have fundamentally shifted the nature of the relationship between organization and worker. And while this relationship might not be as straightforward and "quid pro quo" as it was in the past, the evolution opens opportunities for both employer and employee growth, as well as a positive transformation of culture and the employee experience.

Let's take a closer look at some of the intricacies of this changing relationship and how employers may need to rethink their workforce strategies to succeed amid these new realities.

Employees are commodities no more

As Mercer's Kai Anderson, Ilya Bonic, and Kate Bravery wrote in their recent book Work Different: 10 Truths for Winning in the People Age, employees have traditionally been seen as assets working under a transactional loyalty contract in which pay, benefits, and security were exchanged for time and output as dictated by the company.

"The pandemic quickened the pace toward what we call the thrive contract - an employment model anchored in purpose, equity, and impact," the authors said. "Employees demanded a healthier experience in exchange for a commitment to the organization's renewal."

As part of the thrive contract, instead of viewing employees as commodities, employers care for employees in a holistic manner - supporting the whole person and both their personal and professional objectives. And this requires a shift in the very definition of what constitutes full-time employment and what is expected from full-time employees (FTEs).

The meaning and relevance of full-time employment is changing

A full-time job is generally one that requires employees to work a minimum of 30 hours a week, but in many countries, there is no legal definition of full-time employment, and specific arrangements are left to the employer and company policy.

So, while the number of hours is standard, the timeframe in which an FTE works those hours has become far more flexible. Rather than being defined as work from Monday-Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, work scheduling arrangements for FTEs now run the gamut and include four-day work weeks, rotating in office and remote workdays, and shift swapping.

Some FTEs use the increasing flexibility as an opportunity to devote more time to personal pursuits, while others take on other roles like gig work. Either way, employee work-life balance has become a central concern of organizations who once did not bother themselves with what went on outside company walls. For instance, employers who have implemented in-office mandates are now often expected to make those mandates easier for employees by providing childcare and transportation assistance.

Furthermore, in the old contract between employers and FTEs, a "job" was well defined. FTEs already possessed most of the skills necessary to perform that job and were compensated accordingly. Today, employers are redesigning jobs in real time to make room for smart technology partners, and employee upskilling and reskilling efforts must keep pace.

In the new contract, the responsibility for upskilling is shared

While responsibility for job-related skill acquisition was typically the purview of the employer, today ownership is shared rather murkily between the employer and the employee. For example, Dayforce's 2023 Executive Survey research found that 60% of leaders said their organizations offer skills training to help transition employees to new roles. But only 26% of Dayforce's 2023 Pulse of Talent worker respondents said they were offered such training.

If FTEs are going to develop skills independently, they want to ensure these skills are as transferable and portable as possible. Individual employee tenures in both companies and on teams are shorter than they've ever been, and even full-time employment itself is not necessarily a given.

Contingent workers need their own social contracts

Workforce futurists have been tracking the rise of contract employment for years now, and although Dayforce research found that 70% of leaders believe it's challenging to integrate contingent workers into their operations, today's tight labor market has led many to use contingent, part-time, geographically dispersed, and seasonal labor along with FTEs.

But the question remains, what do contract workers get from employers in exchange for providing the ultimate hiring flexibility and saving them overhead and benefits costs? And the answer isn't just about money. Leaders need strategies and tools to solve the challenge of making contingent workers feel like a part of the team, and not an outsider. There are a number of ways to make this concept a reality.

The bottom line? Both spoken and unspoken contracts between employers and employees today look very different than they did even five years ago. Companies once expected a degree of loyalty and for employees to feel appreciative of whatever ways employers chose to support them.

For their part, employees were asked to perform at a given standard for a specific straightforward job. Now, however, employees are a much more active and formidable force in the creation and maintenance of the social contract, which implies that people who are diverse and complex contribute their multi-dimensional talents in exchange for work experience, learning opportunities on the job, psychological safety, and fair and inclusive benefits.

Given this shift, employers should pay greater attention to the employee experience delivered for all types of workers, not just FTEs, and build a culture in which "employment with this organization" isn't so rigidly defined.

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