While the current state of employment may be rendering job security obsolete, many people in the workforce don’t necessarily view that as a bad thing. Independent workers now comprise 30% of the workforce, and, as Gen Ys increasingly desire professional flexibility, co-working spaces are becoming much more popular and in-demand.

As a result, a number of new apps and sites that facilitate the “freelance lifestyle” are thriving:

Let’s Meet and Work: The “coffice” has become a common urban staple. Enter Let’s Meet and Work, an app which maps public venues (coffee shops, galleries, museums, book stores) that double as efficient work spaces. Anyone with knowledge of a space can suggest it for the respective city’s map by filling out a recommendation form.

Desktime: Desktime caters to a workforce without HR departments. The site partners up freelancers searching for a place to work with available co-working spaces. Listings include desks or entire offices, conference rooms, and other shared spaces that can be rented by the day, week or month.

Loosecubes: Loosecubes differentiates itself by emphasizing the valuable professional connections facilitated through co-working establishments—a distinction that’s made in the service’s self-identification as a “community marketplace.” However, in order to post and respond to listings on the site, users must first set up a profile identifying their primary profession, a description of their “work vibe” (options include titles such as “hacker,” “fratty” and “awesome”), whether or not they are accepting new work and location.

While this has been a growing trend for some time, there are now serious economic and technological reasons driving the arrangement. And perhaps this is indicative of a more basic human need, too — the need to be around other people. No matter how much we connect via mobile phones, email, texting, social media sites like Facebook or through webinars, many people still need to be around others for ideas, encouragement and conversation. 

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Here are some of the things I am seeing as it pertains to current workplace trends:

• Everything is in motion. Like Accenture, Crayon, IBM, Best Buy, and many others, work gets done wherever you are.  Corporate headquarters can even be in cyberspace. Telepresence is also gaining in quality and popularity.
  

• More workers are moving around the world to live, work and retire. There is increasing demand for high-end and low-end (personal services) jobs, leading to a sagging middle in the job market.  Alan Blinder, Princeton University, has made a point of distinguishing between personal services and impersonal services – if it can be digitized (like much of medicine and finance), it doesn’t have to be done in geographic proximity.  If it requires direct contact, like plumbing and building, it is more difficult to outsource.  Now we are seeing the offshoring of even more personal service providers, such as tutors and concierges.

• Old skills of many Americans no longer match job requirements in an information age economy. This is contributing to long-term unemployment (six months or longer). The long-term unemployed tend to have more health problems, their children get less education and, in turn, inherit their own problems when they enter the job market.

• The workplace itself, in many cases, is coming to resemble more of a design studio than an industrial center.  Emerging core values will likely be collaboration and innovation. 
  

• A shift from input to output. While many employers are increasingly observing and tracking employees to reduce slacking and absenteeism, others are doing away with the clock altogether and evaluating output rather than input.

• While there is a great deal of emphasis being placed on managing younger generations of employees, the older generations are lost in the sea of turbulent job surfing, too.  Many younger people make their demands up front, and communicate more informally up, down and across the organization.  It comes as no surprise to them that in each place they land, the culture is different, the levels of integrity are uneven, the social networks are in play, and the measurement parameters are not consistent.  But those who are older are the ones who are befuddled by the virtual office, the breaking down of silos, the differing expectations from one organization to the next, and the short-lived tenure of the jobs they hold.  

• There are no “career paths” any more in one place or one industry. Plus, there is no longer any guarantee that the job will even be there as long as a year later.  There are no longer any rules, there are no longer any promises, and there is no longer much trust.  That means there will have to be evolutionary change, if not revolutionary change, in the way people are prepared for work, for life, and for life between jobs and after work.
  

• “Flexible” and “alternative” staffing arrangements have proliferated. Many people are looking at multiple temporary jobs. It has acquired new currency in this recession, especially among white-collar job seekers, as they cast about for work of any kind and companies remain cautious about permanent hiring.

Clearly, the processes, protocols and cultures of organizations are divergent as never before.  As a result, getting and keeping talent is taking on all kinds of new dimensions. 

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What did they accomplish? And, more importantly, how can “going social” help YOU retain female employees?

1. Building connections. Women had more opportunities to connect with other people who have similar roles at work, and even similar workplace concerns.

2. Personal Relationships. Women also get to benefit from developing personal– not just professional – connections through the use of social software. For instance, at MillerCoors, working alone was an issue for some, while others, mothers in particular, were having trouble with the hours, which require them to make sales calls at bars at night or on weekends.

3. Sharing. Women can share discussion topics, such as developing a personal brand and work/life balance, and to share documents or articles that pertained to their discussion threads.

4. Mentorship.MillerCoors decided to provide mentors to some of its saleswomen, connecting them through software designed to let mentors and workers connect one-on-one or in groups. The software also enables people to share documents and post comments. As part of the program application process, it also matches workers with mentors who have experience with issues the workers are dealing with.

5. Learning. Having the opportunity, not just to speak with other women sharing the same struggles, but to have the chance to hear from a female executive can also be really valuable.

6. Unity. If workers are geographically isolated, social platforms can be very effective in building team unity.

7. Cost-Effective. Using social networks to build connections can save a company a lot of money. Workers can log in rather than buying pricey plane tickets to fly to meetings. And if employees feel more connected with one another, the company might see a decline in turnover and would therefore save money on rehiring and retraining new people.

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Researchers at the University of Buffalo (NY) have published a study finding that:

When women are “pursuing romantic goals” they tend to shy away from academic work in [STEM]. In two experiments, subjects were exposed to images and conversations that primed them to think about dating, and then completed questionnaires regarding their interest in pursuing STEM versus other majors. Women who thought about dating and not intelligence or friendship reported less interest in STEM fields. A third component of the study asked women to keep track of their feelings of romance and their interest in math, and found that the two were at odds.

But why is this the case?

• Maybe this is less about women trying to be desirable, and more about the men they think they will meet.

   

• Perhaps it’s because of women’s acceptance or acknowledgment of gender-based stereotypes (although I really hope that isn’t the case! I want to give us women more credit than that.) As the reasoning goes, some women may believe that men don’t find brainiac scientists appealing, and choose academic pursuits they believe will be more “accepted” and less off-putting.

   

• Or maybe it’s because going after more intellectually-based professional goals in typically masculine fields (such as STEM) is seen as being at odds with more traditional romantic goals that are usually associated with gender norms.

But what this also speaks to is the influences of the surrounding environment that women grow up in and become so accustomed to. How many messages are sent every day that being sexy and attractive is important?

But there has to be something else going on here? Right?

According to a recent article, which highlighted this study, the author brings up a very valid point:

“Why would any woman who wanted to maximize her dating opportunities avoid science, math, and technology? Her odds are obviously better in the fields where she is underrepresented.  But women don’t merely want to maximize their opportunities, they also want to increase the quality of their opportunities. Maybe it is not that women are trying to make themselves more desirable, but that they aren’t that into the men they meet in their STEM classes.”

Clearly, there are lots and lots of possibilities as to why this is happening.  I think whatever is actual reason is behind this effect, this study can be heaped onto the stack of other studies that also seek to explain the continual gender gap – especially in tech-based fields.  Only one explanation can only go so far, when there are so many variables to consider.  Or maybe the issue is just with the men!

What do you think?

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But the thing we are seeing emerge now is that women are not just the chief purchasing officers, they are also the earners – a reality that has enormous consequences across global economies.

The emergence of a global “She-conomy” will have a major impact on everything from education to marketing and branding to fertility levels. While it’s true that most women still earn less than men, are far less likely to be in the highest-salaried executive positions, there are numerous positive indicators on the horizon in the U.S.:

There are already many more women than men enrolled in and graduating from universities:

• Women account for more than half of college students and half the work force, which has delayed motherhood and marriage. For the first time, a majority of mothers, 54 percent, have a college education, up from 41 percent in 1990.
• Women increasingly serve as household breadwinners and white-collar executives – and are widely considered the most powerful and growing demographic with respect to global consumer power. In fact, about a third of women out-earn their husbands.

Many women have suffered less than men in this recession:

• Women were more likely to be in health care and other sectors/jobs that were not hit as hard as construction and manufacturing.
• Women are also increasingly likely to have the education required.
• One in five men 25 to 54 is not working, and the jobs that many of these men once had will not return. Many indicators point toward women comprising a greater percentage of white-collar professional positions going forward, while men who have been displaced will need to find alternatives – perhaps through vocational training or entering trade professions.

What about the global economy?

• 1 billion additional middle class women are expected to enter it over the next decade. If China and India each represent 1 billion emerging participants in the global marketplace, then this “third billion” will be made up of women, in both developing and industrialized nations, whose economic lives have previously been stunted, under-leveraged, or suppressed.
• Globally, women total $13 trillion in yearly earnings and could reach $18 trillion in the next five years, representing a growth market twice as big as China and India combined.

What does this mean for our companies and organizations?

• In the “she-conomies” that are emerging, communication and leadership styles that resonate with, inspire and include women will also be in greater demand. As will financial planning products and services.
• But more importantly…it also means we are on the precipice of a massive economic power shift.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

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Let’s take a look at a few:

Pose is a free iPhone app that urges users to strut their stuff by posting geo-tagged photos of their favorite fashion finds on Facebook, Twitter, and within Pose itself.  Users can then solicit style feedback from a panel of fashion-savvy experts, ranging from celebrated bloggers to other active members of the Pose community. Brands themselves can also leverage the app for promotions and in-store deals.  This is a great way for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers to reignite the thrill that was once associated with in-store shopping.

VIZL is a new real-time app that enables retailers, stylists and shoppers to save time and money: two of the most precious – and coveted – things in our lives! Not only do brands provide abundant catalogs of their newest items, but stylists can snag photos of the must-have goods and get quick e-approval from their clients. And shoppers can upload whole wardrobes to the app for later use, e.g., when searching for matching pieces in stores. Outfits can then be shared on Facebook – for even more approval.

Ever wonder where you can snag that must-have accessory or item? You search everywhere and come up empty-handed? Well, Where To Get It solves that problem for you.  The program employs crowd-sourcing to help site members determine the source of garments and accessories. Users take a picture of their object of desire—e.g., on the street, in a magazine, or in the closet of a stingy friend—then can post it to a community of knowledgeable shoppers who are able to identify both the brand and store.

WHAT WILL THIS MEAN?

• More companies will operate in two realms – the traditional brick-and-mortar and the virtual. Effectively marrying the two in increasingly innovative and expansive ways will be critical.
• The creation of a more holistic consumer retailing and brand experience  will prove revolutionary to existing and new businesses in the future.

• Not only are traditional marketing messages being moved to alternative media, but new technologies and sales channels are spurring wholly new businesses.

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