Expectations of a 21st Century Employee

The consequences of these changes are manifested in the desires of the 21st century worker, who wants not only a job that pays the bills, but one that fulfills deeper existential (perhaps one could even call them spiritual) needs: a sense of purpose, a feeling of connection to something larger than themselves, and the freedom to contribute to that larger entity in a way that doesn’t conflict with their own beliefs or sense of self. Overall, they expect to get meaning from their work, and for the entire experience to be individualized and unique to them.

It’d be hard to overstate the significance of the sweeping changes that have occurred over the past several decades across the globe — socially, economically and politically.

It’s been a time period characterized by stabilization and globalization on a scale never before seen. As a result, the world is far more connected than ever before, metaphorically, but very much literally as well. Political and economic unions (the EU being a prime example) have guaranteed the free movement of people, goods and services across what used to be heavily guarded borders, bridges spanning massive waterways have connected what used to be distant land masses, and the miracle of modern commercial aviation has made easy and affordable journeys that used to be potentially deadly and cost a life’s savings.

One can see this increased connectedness quantified in a variety of metrics. For our purposes, a particularly interesting number to look at is the number of expats — people living in a country other than their country of origin — globally.

As the world “shrinks” and it becomes easier for people to move abroad for work, family and other reasons, we’d expect to see more people doing so; and indeed we have.

Another result of a “smaller” world, is that the range of opportunities available to workers (specifically skilled workers) has expanded. International travel has never been easier, safer or cheaper. Likewise, speaking with someone on the other side of the world has never been so simple. Workers can now confidently look beyond their own country or even their own continent for positions and organizations that offer them the most appealing opportunities.

Because they have such a myriad of options that a connected world affords them, these workers can be significantly more picky about the kinds of jobs they’re willing to take.

Moreover, this privilege of choice changes the way in which they are likely to frame their expectations about their job and the criteria they use in order to choose one over the other — it shifts from something that’s measured almost entirely by its economic utility (how well it provides the resources necessary to live) to something that’s measured, at least in part, by the value it adds to their lives.

More than that, it’s easy to argue that whatever detriments stem from its use, the positive effects of the internet far outweigh them.

The question of whether the internet and its effects on us are a net positive or a net negative, while fascinating, is not within the scope of this article however. What concerns us here, is how these specific changes are affecting employee expectations.

In that regard, one can draw a straight line from the instant gratification and personalized experience one becomes accustomed to from frequent internet use to the desire for more frequent feedback, to be recognized often by their leader and for a more personalized progression track.‍

Moreover, they allow users to create a highly personalized experience. Don’t want to see the posts from a particular person or company? No problem, you can simply remove them from your feed.

The same goes for content platforms such as Youtube and streaming services like Netflix and Spotify. In a bid to win over customers and create the best possible user experience, they have gotten better and better at allowing users to control what they see and don’t see, as well as using algorithms to suggest content “suited” to their unique preferences.

In an age when so many are spending so much time with these platforms and setting the experience they provide as a new baseline, it’d be unreasonable to imagine those expectations wouldn’t extend into the other facets of their lives.

This means that billions of people that used to struggle with the most basic elements of survival — food, water, shelter — and saw their work as simply a way to secure those elements, are now able to direct their attention to other, higher concerns. This then has the effect of changing the way they think about their work and motivates them to want more from it.

Thinking about this in terms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we can say that they moved up from the very bottom of the pyramid and into the middle and top sections. For those unfamiliar with Maslow and his hierarchy of needs, in short, he created a framework, exceedingly popular in psychology and the social sciences, for classifying the universal needs of humans in society represented by a pyramid.

That’s hugely significant. As the article cleverly points out, the average American spends 21% of their income on housing, a basic need. So what this means is that the need for meaning, in monetary terms, is equal to, if not greater than, the need for shelter. And because the need for shelter, along with their other basic needs are satisfied, workers are motivated to fulfill their higher needs.

The convergence of the factors we’ve explored result in the shift we’re seeing in what modern workers expect from their job. In the simplest terms, they expect to get meaning from it.

But meaning doesn’t just exist in the world independently, it’s created — we create it. It’s created through human-to-human connection, recognition from others, a feeling of shared purpose.

It’s incumbent on leaders to drive this — to build a feedback culture, to foster an environment that encourages employees to focus on personal and professional growth, to connect their daily tasks and projects to the broader pursuits in their life. But knowing this, the real challenge now is to support organizations and their leaders, managers, and coaches in a way that empowers them to do this, and do it effectively.

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