Talent Tectonics

CHAPTER 12Where Do We Go from Here?: Shaping the Future of the Employee Experience

We Do Not Want Another Employee Experience Revolution

A man born in the United States in 1870 was statistically likely to live to age 39. In 1970, this had increased to age 70. Many of these 31 additional years of life were due to improved working conditions.¹ Technology that enabled the shift from an agricultural to manufacturing economy vastly improved people's prosperity and well-being, but these gains did not come easily. The benefits of the industrial revolution were not shared equally across all segments of society. Benefits for the upper half of society often came at a cost of suffering for the lower “working classes.” Early factories had horrific working conditions frequently likened to the pits of hell where worker injuries and fatalities were treated as an operational expense. This led to massive social unrest as workers demanded better treatment from employers. This unrest fueled class-based revolutions in several nations and resulted in widespread, violent confrontations among workers, employers, and government forces around the globe. It also led to positive developments such as outlawing use of child labor, ensuring workers had safe work environments and living wages, and the right to take time from work without losing their jobs. The nature of the employee experience fundamentally changed for the better over the course of the 20th century.² But it is not the kind of violent transition ...