Today some of my favourite colleagues are leaving, they are part of quite a sizeable group of people that have been trickling off since the start of the economic recession - well about 3 years ago for us. I work in the aerospace industry and most of my colleagues have worked in it over 15 years, to explain the general length of service here, three of our accounts ladies retired this week they had clocked up over 90 years between them!.
Restlessness in the UK
However things change and work habits in all industries are changing. But I wonder when we look back if we will notice the effect of this recession in the general movement or restlessness of people in the UK. At the beginning of the recession and when people realised the loss their savings, I notice several parents in my children's school were notifying each other in the playground that this would be their child's last term, they were moving if not abroad, then into the countryside. There was at least 4 or 5 from both the children's classes that left which is usually over a the 12 years we have known the school, a rare event.
I suppose it's not really surprising that a global economic crisis changed some peoples plans. Sometimes it takes a push to make a change to your life and it may only take a small event in the workplace or a public event to set you planning a different plan for the future from the one you woke up with in the morning.
Smarten up or ship out
Although it has not been overnight, I have noticed a change in the way people are expected to behave in the workforce. I started working in software when you could wear your pyjamas to work and no-one would care. Now many software companies expect you to wear "office-wear". In fact through lack of work and fear of redundancy everyone has felt the pressure to "smarten-up", though for some of our best techies this is not possible and they have become vulnerable to redundancy rounds as a result. The crisis has meant a greater adherence to conformity by senior management not willing to take risk with more "exotic" people and of course their ideas.
One sad and emerging trend however impractical is the expectation that the young will work for free to get experience. People will be staying on in the workplace in the future, long after todays current retirement age even though the young and fit are already finding it hard to keep on top of todays diverse workloads. A great generalisation I know, but in particular the young and the old for varying reasons can also find strict conformance and regulation over extended periods more stressful.
Diverse Attractions
In order to deal with the new levels of age in the workplace it would seem there should be a change to working practices, but part-time work a common method of employment for older workers is being used by employers to cut costs to employ people who would rather work longer hours. My experience of working part-time tells me that there is no such thing a part-time workload, just a more intense shorter working day. If after years of lip-service to gender diversity we were doing better, the outlook would look better for age diversity, but without little evidence of the success of policies to attract women to senior positions in a company which should be reasonably simple, it is difficult to see how one ensures that companies would create successful policies to attract the elderly.
Not Playing Ball
Back to the root
At the end it is the feeling of loss, these people that are leaving of course, cannot be replaced. They bring their experience and their network of relationships their personalities and and they are unique. It is unsettling, so many goodbyes over such a long period of time, and with it the impact on the change of my work and social environment I understand that people move on, the feeling that people are up-rooting, specifically people with big roots, has been slightly disturbing. The mainstays of our PTAs, local societies and children of elderly parents are moving and for those left behind the worry of how we will cope without them. I hope when the dust settles and the jostling for position post-recession is over, that there will be some focus on the value and contribution for those that could not move, a sense of belonging and a power of autonomy that today's ever more educated and healthier people appear to so desperately desire. I am hopeful that we may see a society that encourages and provides means for people to participate, one that truly demonstrates that it values its diverse peoples, and their health and well-being, and to stop the restlessness, a society where people will want to put down roots.
