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9/4/05 More will be laboring during the holiday Nearly half of America's workers will be working through Labor Day, and more often than not, there's no demanding boss insisting they come to the office. Workers are forgoing the holiday by choice, according to two studies released late last month by Development Dimensions International Inc., a Pittsburgh human resources consulting firm.
The first study, which polled more than 1,100 workers in leadership positions, found that on Labor Day, 42 percent of workers would either be in the office or spending time away from holiday celebrations for work-related reasons; 17 percent of those surveyed said they planned to travel to their office on Labor Day. Respondents said they would be checking work e-mail and voicemail and catching up on job-related reading. Another survey by the firm of 4,500 supervisors, managers, and organizational leaders may offer some insight into why American workers are putting aside the holiday for work: Sixty percent of those surveyed who indicated they already have a poor work-life balance said they would be willing to sacrifice even more personal time if it meant getting ahead in the office. Of that same group, ''nearly 80 percent did not feel pressured to work on this national holiday (even though almost half said they will), emphasizing that workers are self-motivated to put business ahead of their personal lives,'' the study noted. Retirement!
Retirement For many workers, retirement is becoming less of a reality than a Labor Day off. Almost 70 percent of workers throughout the country said they plan to continue to work either full or part time even after they retire, according to a study released last month by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and the University of Connecticut. The survey, ''A Work-Filled Retirement: Workers' Changing Views on Employment and Leisure,'' polled 800 US laborers this summer and showed that another 14 percent plan to work as volunteers after retirement and only 13 percent will retire completely. The study's results showed that as the baby boom generation begins to enter retirement age, more Americans are feeling less secure about their options. ''The traditional notion of retirement, where one stops working completely and enjoys leisure time with friends and family, is obsolete,'' said Carl Van Horn, director and professor of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers. ''In fact, workers in 2005 feel less confident than they did in 2000 that they will be financially able to leave the workforce ahead of traditional retirement age.'' While 60 percent of survey respondents said they felt it would be impossible to retire by age 60, 12 percent said they believed it would be impossible to retire at all. That contrasts with data from the same survey conducted in 2000, where only 40 percent of workers said they could not retire by age 60 and 7 percent felt they could never retire. The reason for this downward shift in attitude? A declining sentiment toward financial security after the weekly paycheck stops coming in, the study says. As the fight to reform the Social Security system heats up on Capitol Hill, workers feel less confident in how they will provide for themselves in retirement. Thirty-nine percent surveyed said they believe they are primarily responsible for their own retirement income, and only slightly more than half of employees with company-funded pension plans said they are ''very confident'' they will receive the money promised to them. Only 18 percent of those surveyed said they expected the government to provide the most reliable source of retirement income, yet 35 percent do not have a savings plan in place to supplement Social Security payments.
Workplace American workers are concerned about how they are being treated in the workplace and what level of connection they have with management regarding company decisions, according to a survey published recently. Workers also often feel underappreciated by their superiors, the report said. In many instances, however, a simple thanks can go a long way, according to Dianne Durkin, a business specialist and consultant based in Portsmouth, N.H. ''People aren't talking about money rewards,'' Durkin said. ''They're talking about feeling valued by management. The two most underused words in the English language are 'thank you.'.'' A survey by Durkin's firm, The Loyalty Factor, found that half of workers from one midsized technology company had looked for work at another employer. And according to Durkin, the problem is not isolated to just one employer. A majority of workers surveyed reported they felt disconnected from and underappreciated by their employer.
Benefits One Midwestern company has taken a look backward to satisfy its workers' needs of today. Much of America's frontier was built up around so-called company towns designed to meet the needs of workers while they labored in remote areas. Today, however, transportation and telecommuting continue to shrink the distance between home and work. However, with benefits just as important to many workers as salary, one Midwestern trucking company, which employs some Boston-based drivers, has set up a facility that blurs the line between home and work life. Prime Inc., a Springfield, Mo., refrigerated trucking company, built Millennium Center at its headquarters in 2000 to provide services that employees would normally need time away from work to receive. Instead of bringing work home like many telecommuters, Prime is bringing the home to work, and it goes far beyond the company cafeteria and daily dry-cleaning pickup. The center offers everything from smoking and nonsmoking lounges to overnight sleep rooms for weary drivers, an on-site chapel, a doctor's office, private shower facilities, a full-service laundry, a full-size movie theater, a basketball court, and child care. Prime credits the Millennium Center with increased employee happiness. In fact, according to spokesman Chase Wagner, ''cultivating a small-town, family-like atmosphere is a key to Prime's success.''
Nathan Hurst can be reached at nhurst@globe.com
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