In the past, when one wanted to describe the demographic and social characteristics of the work force and the career patterns of its members, it was common to divide individuals into two categories: managers, or “salaried” employees, and workers, or “hourly” employees. The laws governing employment practices still make this distinction, as salaried employees are “exempt” from much of the wage-and-hour legislation that governs the rights of “nonexempt” hourly employees. However, increasing diversity in both the characteristics of the labour force and the organization of work have made these categories less helpful.

Consider, for example, the degree to which women have become a significant presence in the American work force. In 1950 women accounted for roughly one-third of all paid workers, and by 1994 they represented nearly half—a proportion that remained more or less stable through the early 21st century. Just as this demographic change contributed to productivity, it also introduced new legal issues—and in many cases, new regulations—to the workplace.

As demands for labour continue to grow, most of the new jobs in the United States will be created not in the large manufacturing firms but in the service sector, especially health services, business services, social services management, and engineering. The majority of these new jobs will be created by small rather than large firms. Furthermore, the educational requirements of the “typical” job are expected to continue to increase.

Taken together, these trends worry many industrial relations personnel experts and managers, who fear a mismatch developing between the characteristics of future entrants to the labour force and the types of skills that will be in high demand. If this is true, considerable efforts will be required to coordinate the two. This in turn implies that individuals will need to engage in lifelong learning, training, and retraining and that firms will need to increase their training investment. The changing nature of the labour force further implies an increase in opportunities for women, minorities, and immigrants.

The interests, values, and expectations that workers bring to the workplace provide a useful point of departure for understanding how employees respond to managerial policies. While these psychological features vary among individuals, over time as workers move through different stages of their family and career cycle, and across nationalities, they do reveal certain similarities.

There is a long-standing debate between psychologists and economists over how best to ascertain worker interests and expectations. Psychologists have traditionally used survey questionnaires and interviews to measure worker attitudes, values, and beliefs. Survey findings are applied to observable workplace behaviours such as job search, turnover, absenteeism, union organizing, and withdrawal from the labour force as a means of determining how an individual worker’s expressed attitudes and beliefs correspond to his actions at the workplace. Economists favour direct observation and measurement of these observable behaviours. This provides evidence of what economists call “revealed preferences”—preferences that are revealed by actions taken. Both approaches are helpful in painting a complete picture of workers’ views and the workplace outcomes that result from these views.

Since work is in nearly all cases the most important source of a person’s income, it is no surprise to find that all workers place a high value on the income and security their jobs provide. Survey responses and labour market behaviour indicate that workers expect their jobs to provide both adequate and fair compensation. Fairness, or equity, is normally determined by comparing one’s wages and fringe benefits with those of others in the same occupation, area, industry, or organization. Failure to provide adequate and equitable wages has consistently been shown to lower workers’ job satisfaction and to increase the likelihood that workers will either look for another job or take actions to increase wages through organizing a union or striking. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the expectation of high and equitable wages weakens as individuals move up the occupational ladder and receive higher pay. Even among professionals, pay dissatisfaction continues to be a strong predictor of job turnover.

Most workers expect much more from their jobs than good pay. In fact, perhaps the most important long-run trend in worker values is the gradual expansion and broadening of worker expectations. Survey data have shown that the vast majority of workers throughout the industrialized world place a high value on such qualities as autonomy, opportunity for advancement, and the ability to have a say in how they do their work. Moreover, the higher the level of education, the higher the value workers tend to place on these aspects of their jobs. Given that educational attainment levels are gradually rising, these dimensions of employment are becoming more central to behaviour at the workplace. It is not surprising, therefore, that leading employers throughout the world have been seeking ways to enhance these qualities within their organizations.

With broader expectations and higher levels of education also comes a more assertive labour force—one composed of people willing to voice their demands or expectations. The means chosen for expressing such demands will vary according to laws, cultural preferences, the availability of collective forms of representation, the degree of employer resistance, and employee preferences for either individual or collective action. For example, the right to organize and bargain collectively is provided by law in all industrialized democracies around the world, but this is not always the case in developing nations or in totalitarian states.