Workplace Expectations

Published: 2025-12-09
Last Updated: 2025-12-09

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The workplace has changed quite a bit over the last 45 years, and big changes took place between 2010 and 2016 due to computerized workplaces. Concepts that are important to be familiar with include

• Moore's Law
• Occam's Razor
• Human Development

Human Development is not necessarily evolution or human adaptation, they are changes that humans make selectively that may be driven by environment, policy, requirements, or personal choice. It can include anything from meeting goals at work and increasing thoroughput, to requirements for socialization, education, commuting, or expression.

Computers allowed humans to experience 25 years of traditional human development over a period of 6 months starting around 2010/2011. This means that the period between 2010 and 2016 resembled a perception of moving through 300 years of human progress. This would be like going from the 1750s to the year 2000 in approximately 6 years, and there are other unmeasurable data.

Occam's razor states the simplest path or easiest path is the one most likely traveled, and Moore's law states that computer speed will double every 6 months.

There are approximately 60 million people with a bachelor degree in the USA, and approximately 15 million people with a masters degree. Another 30 million people have attended college but either have no degree or stopped at a certificate.

This all changed the context of what workers expect in the workplace, what they consider a humane work environment, and the type of perks and benefits they ask for when applying or searching for a job.

While the numbers may not indicate correlation or causation, approximately 70 million out of 254 million workers selected independent work instead of full time employment. The jobs pay more and require less of a time commitment. While they don't have benefits, self pay on medical costs less than insurance for many people, and there is no risk of losing a significant amount of savings with self managed investments. Savings also don't lose any money and inflation is considered inhumane in most areas.

The trend with benefits is similar at employers. Workers often prefer there own non work based medical plans and its rare that they will participate in an employer retirement account. They would rather just leave the money in a savings account.

The consideration with savings is that they also don't pay much anymore. Less than $20 per year per $1,000 so a savings account of $25k will pay $500 per year or $12,500 over 25 years. Not enough for rent in most places for even 1 year. Some accounts do compound interest but the trend is to not do that. They pay off of principal only. It will vary by bank.

With this in mind, workers approach employers with the following policies in mind.

• Work is to be religiously neutral. If its not work related, keep it to yourself. With religious organizations, a lot of workers are non religious and appreciate the employer and other workers have a religion but rather focus on concepts and abstract tasks rather then religiously specific work responsibilities.
• Privacy is expected. For days off, the employer only needs to know if the person will show up or not. If they are sick that is between them and the doctor, not them and the employer. If they do disclose they are sick, the employer does not need to know "what they are carrying" only if they are cleared to return to work. This is a complex conversation that is mostly being managed by doctors and job developers. The trend is that employers will not be liable for employees getting sick at work by another worker but that the government will provide medical care if that happens.
• Savings is viewed as the most important benefit. The employer is considered to be knowledgeable on the costs to live in the area and the absurdity of the minimum wage debate. Extra money to leave in the bank each month is the most desired workplace benefit.
• Rest periods are considered important. This is normally more than just two weeks off per year. What workers are asking for is 6 months to 2 years in between jobs and 30-45 days off throughout the year to be used as needed by the workers. Within reason, they feel they should not need to ask for permission on specific days, they will just not be available soon for up to 3 weeks. The employer is expected to prioritize their requirements before they take time of from work, which is different from a rest period. Leave of absence has become a popular topic in these conversations.
• Socialization is viewed as none of the employers business. The acceptable form of socialization at work is seen as work related team work during work hours. Workers feel they should not be penalized or forced to attend company events, nor should they be stigmatized if they are unable to attend an event the majority of the organization is attending. They view their time outside of work hours as belonging to them and not to be infringed upon by the employer. Workers also feel that a workplace relationship can be professional if they socialize at work for team based activities only and seek therapy if their relationship context is becoming problematic at work, or being away from each other during work hours causes anxiety. While socializing with workers is viewed as acceptable, a worker should not be made to feel that they will lose their job for declining dinner or drinks for 1 hour after work. Often times, they don't get paid for that time.

These expectations are not wishes or desires. They are well documented in HR policies, lawsuits, and business administration best practices. The issue is often with time off and scheduling and workers understand this will vary by employer.

Independent workers are often seen as part of the team. The workers understand they work on their own and probably have other organizations they help out as well. Mostly, the IRS has agreed to stay out of W2/1099 classifications and to defer the workplace preference conversation to a job developer first.