Future gazing: Work habits in the 21st century

Lindsay Bennelong Developments recently commissioned KPMG's Bernard Salt to undertake a study on workplace trends, to tie in with the property developer's Gore Hill business precinct launch. Salt's research unveils some interesting trends that all employers should be taking note of. Work Habits in the 21st Century reveals a fusion of work life with home life, in a society where workplaces will need to support this flexible approach to life and the challenge for workers will be to ensure that work does not control their life.

Work in the 1920s
"I started by looking at the way in which the working life has evolved in Australia over the last 80 years. Go back 80 years and life expectancy in Australia was 63 years. You qualified for the age pension at 65 so you probably dropped dead two years before you got a pension," Salt says.

"You were a child until 14 years and then you were an adult. You went straight into the workforce. There was no need to plan for retirement because 80 years ago you would drop dead in the workforce. There were very blunt, defined edges," he adds.

Work in the 1950s
Fast-forward 40 years and the average life expectancy extended to 71 years and there was the birth of a new sub-species: the teenager. There was also been an evolution of a time beyond work: retirement. Working life ranged from 15-65, but after 21 most people (mainly men) were well into the working phase of life. In 1971 the average age of a married woman was 21 and for a male 23. By that age most people were committed to marriage, mortgage, and children. Most white collar workers accepted that the normal work-a-day life involved leaving the suburbs behind and traveling to the CBD. "This is the model most Baby Boomers recognise and is still relevant to many older workers today," Salt says.

Work in 2010 and beyond
Today's model is different again. Life expectancy is 82 years - with 17 years of retirement. The teenage phase of life, which was invented by Baby Boomers, has actually been stretched - a 'teenager' can now go up to age 25. "The reason being, 40 years ago all that was required was the year 10 exam or HSC," Salt explains. "By 2009, the more sophisticated service-based economy based around office work requires higher levels of education. Therefore secondary school needs to be completed through to age 17 or 18, and then you need further education and training. It's not until late 20s that we're making commitments. The average age of marriage for the Australian woman today is 29."

There is another significant change: forty years ago there was a single breadwinner - and dad worked Mon-Fri, 9-5. The month of January was holiday time.

"Now it's mum and dad working, and more likely in office work, combined with managing the raising of children. From age 33 to 43 the average household goes from two incomes back to one or one and a half. So you're juggling keeping a household going, raising the kids, and working," Salt says.

There has been a shift at the other end of the age spectrum as well. "From around 55 onwards the Baby Boomers over the last decade have picked up that teenage phase of life - that transition phase - and they've re-inserted it at age 50+ as a new transition phase. That's where the sea change and tree change is driving lifestyle decisions," Salt says.

Furthermore, those 'hard edges' have blurred. In the 20th century work was rigidly Mon-Fri, 9-5. Now work is measured on deliverables, outputs, KPIs. "How you deliver that output is entirely up to you," Salt explains.

Work is also being taken home via Blackberrys and broadband. Most people log in to check work emails each night. Equally, Salt argues, when employees go into work, young people in particular will check their Facebook or Twitter accounts. During the day an employee might check their internet banking. "These are home functions that are entering the office and vice-versa," he says.

In the 20th century the office was hierarchical. Most people starting work at age 20 would have been terrified of 'the boss', while today Gen Y are not in any way threatened by the boss - "they're more likely to provide some tips on how the company should be run", Salt laughs.

Corporate loyalty - once so valued - is also shied away from today. Gen Y prefers to gain exposure in a wide range of jobs rather than sticking with one company for years.

A new work model
Salt suggests the overwhelming theme in this 'new work model' is the pursuit of lifestyle and flexibility. Not only does it require flexible work practices, it involves the decentralisation of certain CBD functions to suburbia, closer to where people live. The office industrial park is the prime example of this, and Salt points to best practice examples in Changi, Singapore, and Milton, Oxfordshire, UK.

"This is the ascendancy of a set of values based around fluidity and the breakdown of old protocols, old arrangements. The ultimate expression of the old way of working is living out in the 'burbs, commuting to the CBD to perform some sort of back office function that can be performed more efficiently completed in a suburban location - to say nothing of the carbon footprint and productivity waste that goes with that," Salt comments.

This does not necessarily mean the CBD is dead - Salt believes it will remain the home for flagship corporate headquarters (minus the back office functions), and will continue to hold the ASX, law centres and government functions. The CBD fringe has also evolved since the 1990s - Docklands in Melbourne, Southbank in Brisbane, Darling Harbour in Sydney. "What we wanted was almost a 'third place' not home or work - but a place after work with cafes, bars, restaurants. I now think there's a fourth place - and it's not necessarily a physical place - where you can phase all of the above: work, home, cafes, bars, parkland, schools. Then you can shuttle between all those. It's a better mousetrap, instead of commuting to the city centre," he says.

For employees this will mean a more flexible, fluid and integrated life where work can be all encompassing or remain part of their life. However, there is a downside: work could potentially become so convenient that it starts to invade private time. "How easy will it be just to nip into the office or check on work progress from home? The question is, will this be ultimate expression of individual freedom, or is this an insidious development where work infiltrates our private life," Salt asks.

"The challenge for workers in the 21st century will be to ensure that they keep control of work and not let work control them."