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"David Hassell is the CEO of 15Five.\u00A0This post originally appeared on the 15five blog.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nSweatshops, child labor, unsafe conditions and poor wages. Thankfully, these are largely just bad memories for the American workforce. A better life for employees did not come easily, as laborers fought managers and owners for many years to win these basic rights.\r\n\r\nWe are now on the cusp of a new revolution \u2014 something we\u2019re dubbing: Employee Rights 2.0. \u201CLabor\u201D is breaking free of traditional management structures to experience unprecedented autonomy. Today\u2019s knowledge workers demand freedom from micromanagement and the punch-clock.\r\n\r\nSo how will you manage to manage them? Will employees have all the control?\r\nLabor pains\r\n\r\n\r\nIf you look up\u00A0the origins of the word \u201Clabor\u201D, the definitions you discover are quite unsettling \u2014 \u201Cwork hard, toil, struggle, have difficulty, endure pain and suffering\u2026\u201D Is it any wonder that the first\u00A0organized labor unions\u00A0formed nearly 250 years ago?\r\n\r\nFor the next couple of centuries, a power-struggle ensued. Controlling business owners and managers were little better than slave-masters.The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded on the belief that self-organization along occupational lines and a concentration on job-conscious goals would \u201Cfurnish workers with the weapons which would secure industrial emancipation.\u201D\r\n\r\nThe AFL succeeded and ultimately won a shorter workday, safer conditions, a fair wage, and health benefits for subsequent generations of employees.\r\n\r\nBut like many oppressed groups, these workers eventually became the oppressors. By setting higher wages and influencing laws that required union labor in specific industries, business owners were forced to raise prices and sometimes lose their competitive advantage in the marketplace.\r\n\r\nWe now live and work in an age where employment can be decentralized, incentives are far more than monetary or benefit-based and technology drives innovation at a lightning pace. The\u00A0demand for top-talent\u00A0has never been greater, so how do employers stay atop a rapidly shifting workplace landscape?\r\nEyes on, hands off\r\nThat all depends on how business leaders adjust to cope with staffing changes in a competitive global economy:\r\n\r\n\tAccess to a talent pool the world over including off-shoring, outsourcing and remote work.\r\n\tAlways-on communication where mobile technology has created the 24-hour workday.\r\n\tA\u00A0new generation of workers\u00A0with different demands and desires.\r\n\tConsumer awareness and the dawn of social media. A world where\u00A0consumers have significantly more insight\u00A0into the way companies do business and treat employees, with the power to react and heavily influence others.\r\n\r\nWorkforce.com reports that half of\u00A0American employees will be completely independent\u00A0by 2020. This includes those on fixed-term contracts, independent consultants, those working through temporary agencies, and those who own a business with less than five employees.\r\n\r\nThe traditional employee-manager relationship is massively shifting. In fact, the future \u2018worker\u2019 will largely have to manage herself through self-discipline and time management. Technologies like cloud based computing, mobile devices, and a variety of communication applications have created an environment that supports these remote, independent workers.\r\n\r\nTechnology can also support managers and owners to keep a finger on the pulse of people they may never meet in person but who are squarely responsible for work that contributes to the growth of their businesses. Rather than leaving things to chance,\u00A0regularly asking employees questions\u00A0and soliciting feedback is a sure-fire way to maintain visibility for the manager and autonomy for the employee.\r\nTrue power is surrender\r\nTraditional managers are struggling to keep power in the age of the employee. From a manager\u2019s perspective, power is the capacity to produce an outcome.This is a fading paradigm where managers feel that they need to have tight control over employees.\r\n\r\nLooking at these relationships in terms of power or control is the first thing that needs to shift. Control in the form of micromanagement is actually a decrease in power for everyone involved.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen every detail of the\u00A0employee\u2019s work is scrutinized, managers don\u2019t have the bandwidth to perform their own necessary tasks. And employees are never given the autonomy to grow so that they can become masters of those particular duties.\r\n\r\nWhen managers give up control and provide employees with an opportunity to step up, both parties become more empowered. When employees can assume the myriad responsibilities that company leaders have to delegate out, everyone wins.\r\nThe new demand curve\r\nAs the nature of employer/employee relationships shift, you still need to attract the best talent and experts. If you remove the traditional model, how do you attract the best of the global talent pool? How do you keep them, even when you\u2019re working primarily with consultants?\r\n\r\nThe best people always have a lot of options and leverage. Those who can create and produce at the highest level generally get to create some of the terms for how they are going to work \u2014 remotely, as a contractor, or sign on full time and demand a high salary, equity and benefits.\r\n\r\nThey are really good at what they do and are scarce relative to the demand for their services. Demand also increases exponentially at higher levels of knowledge, skill, and experience.\r\n\r\nUsually\u00A0considerably more pay or equity is required\u00A0to attract or retain the top percentage of talent that can differentiate your company in a highly competitive marketplace.\r\n\r\nIsn\u2019t this starting to look and feel like the shift that we saw following the victory of labor unions?\r\nFinance vs. fulfillment\r\nSome people are driven by money and may seek to take advantage of you. But you have to know that when they are given a better financial opportunity, they are going to quit and subsequently erode your culture.\r\n\r\nToday\u2019s new workforce is not just looking for financial gains. They are looking for flexibility and alignment with purpose. You can present an uncommon opportunity where they are so passionate about what your company does, that they will sign on merely because they are inspired by the company mission and alignment with the core values.\r\n\r\nSome are so passionate about making a difference that they will join your company even if they can make more money elsewhere. Those who are truly inspired will even be in it for the long term.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTake for example, IDEO\u2019s world-famous culture which provides the opportunity for designers to solve problems with enormous impact. IDEO attracts the best people who want to be part of their\u00A0human-centered approach\u00A0and will sacrifice a salary for the opportunity to change the world.\r\n\r\nAnd you can bring in one or two experienced independent workers to solve an immediate short term problem. They are ideal to join for two to three\u00A0months and show your full-time committed team how to rebuild the site on a new platform or teach a new sales strategy.\r\n\r\nGet the team up to speed with best practices, transfer 70 to 80 percent of their knowledge, and then pass the torch to a team that you\u00A0can\u00A0afford \u2014 one that believes in the mission and who will stay on board for as long as it takes.\r\n\r\nThere are many ways to use the transforming world of work to your advantage, so don\u2019t be afraid of shifting away from a traditional hierarchical management structure. You can instill faith in your company mission instead of instilling fear in your team. You can wield the power of asking questions instead of wielding a stick.\r\n\r\nThis latest shift in human resource management may give employees unprecedented rights, but that doesn\u2019t have to come at the expense of management. In this brave new world everyone wins \u2014 employee, manager, company, and customer.\r\n\r\nDo you feel like you are\u00A0losing control of your workforce? Are you all about inspiration or do you demand\u00A0perspiration?\r\n\r\nRead next:\u00A0The future of work is already here"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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