The end of the empowered employee?

The labor market has been a bit of a roller coaster in the last few years: from the over 20 million jobs that were lost in 2020 in the earliest days of the pandemic, to the recovery and the labor shortages that followed the “great resignation” - which at its peak in 2021 saw a record 4.5 million workers quitting their jobs in a single month. In 2021 and 2022, the power balance had shifted in a historic way in the employees favor. With a tight labor market and a new awakening to what was broken in the way we had been working, employees were winning in pay, and flexibility and support for labor unions increased to 71%higher than at any time since 1965.

But by the end of last year, with worries of a looming recession the vibe started to shift again. And now just two months into 2023 we’ve seen layoffs at several major tech and media companies. So are employees fated to lose all the ground they gained? Is this the end of the empowered worker?

On today's episode of The New Way We Work I spoke to Fast Company Senior Editor Julia Herbst , about her article looking at whether employees are still feeling as empowered and in control of their careers as they did a year ago.

Julia and I have been covering these changes in the work landscape closely these last few years, so we wanted to dissect exactly what’s happening right now and what it means for what’s coming next.?Take a listen to the episode above and read her article below.