To what extend have working conditions and attitudes

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I have got several complaints from my foreign friends who sometimes visit my blog. They say that they cannot read Mongolian. Sorry Michael, Ken, Ales, Yui, Vengat, Upendra, Iil, Rohallah, Jaclyn, Graeme, and Mikey. I have addressed this article to you because of its existing problems in Mongolia. Comments are very welcome dear all.

Today we live in a period of globalization and the world is evolving so fast that traditional systems are becoming less and less valid. Nowadays it is clear that technology, information and open communication in the world have the potential to totally reshape attitudes to work and that rapid changes in the economy are changing working conditions. One of them is internet banking. I mentioned it again:)

Many believe that traditional long-term job security with a single company is no longer a certainty. Employers are turning to other options such as, hiring staffing firms to provide for their employment needs. Competing in a global economy requires high performance enterprises with a high performance workforce. New technology, fast changing markets and the growth of the service sector accentuate this need.

Just a few decades ago the man who was working at Kennedy airlines as a cargo delivery person thought to himself that his job would never change and he would fill up the same igloos with the same boxes for the remainder of his life. He also mentioned that he would hump the same mailbags into the belly of the plane, and push the same 8,000 – pound pallets with his back (Patrick, 1973). According to Patrick’s article his job is weary work that makes a man feel used up and worn out. He was working only for money in order to feed his family. That time applies not only to airline companies but also to the rest of the industrial and agricultural sectors, which had not changed, and workers were working very hard all day. If workers compare today with the 1960s and 1970s, they will know that 30 years ago Patrick had no idea about the future’s new technology and development.

Generally speaking, new technological discoveries have probably had the greatest influence on working conditions and attitudes. The personal computer especially has revolutionized communication, automation and business practices in the past decades. Moreover, telecommuting and using powerful telecommunication networks has led many workers and business people to work from home instead of going to the office (Francis, 1999). Just four years ago Francis predicted how companies would use this technology. Indeed, today his prediction has come true.

Another factor causing working conditions and attitudes to change is communication and satisfaction. Today even if an employer offers a job, which is highly paid but lacking in open communication, the effect on personal and family life of the workers would make people unwilling to work for such an employer. If workers like their jobs, they will be happy and satisfied (Anzia, 1982). According to the survey of Families and Work Institute in 1993, over 60% of workers agreed that pleasant as well as open communication were necessary factors in helping them decide to take their current job (Tom, 1993). The startling result is salary ranked below all other factors. Thus man should not work to live, but live to work (Max, 1930). This is proof that workers attitudes have changed in the last few decades.

Besides the above-mentioned changes in attitudes and conditions, the main advantage of changing working condition is reduction of working time. Now workers can do their job two or three times faster than they did before. The restructuring and reduction of working time is particularly important in the public services in order to reduce unemployment, to regulate the nature and incidence of flexible work (part-time and temporary work), modernise and improve the quality of services, improve working conditions, and reduce stress and ill health associated with excessive working hours. Furthermore, changing working time can enhance the possibilities of woman securing leisure time, education and parental leave, equal opportunities with man and the sharing of family and work life. Modern women do not want to see themselves as playing supporting roles such as being a “good wife” or “housewife” in someone else’s life script (Ruth, 1990). In other words, now “working wives” are not expected to be primarily responsible for housework and raising children. Of course this can be bad news for the poor traditionalist males. But men have been forced to move with the times and fit in with effects of modern lifestyle.

Negotiating a work/life balance can help enable parents (men and women) to reconcile their work with their family life and women in particular to participate in the labour market. It can also allow workers to take leave from the labour market so that they can participate in education or training or to take up an interest, hobby or leisure pursuit that interests them. This could mean playing roles in local community and in politics or taking an education course to update skills. It might mean that workers can reorganise their working lives and their working hours around shorter days, weeks, months or years.

In brief, the new working age has arrived, and it is changing employees’ and employers’ lives. High tech and open communication has made for better relationships between employers and workers providing for a better work/life balance resulting in doing business faster and providing more convenience for all involved.

Old and poor minded guys, it is the time to change your management and culture to communicate with your employees!