The Great Resignation and a national labor shortage of millions of workers have revealed that employees expect more from their employers than ever before. And it seems for many workers across retail and tech, unions are a way to enforce those expectations.
“The world has changed, and employees are demanding more from their employers than they have in the past,” says Joe Ross, Chief Product Officer at WorkForce Software. “And labor unions promise to give workers greater power to negotiate for more favorable working conditions.”
For Ross, the drive for unionization represents a cultural shift that has been especially clear this year. Ross notes that many of the headline-making unions are made up of “deskless” workers, or those who must be physically present at their jobs to do hands-on tasks, such as employees in retail, food, and manufacturing industries.
“It is essential for organizations to make changes that support the needs of their deskless employees,” Ross says. “Work environments that prioritize flexible hours, training and pay on demand for example, have a higher chance of improving worker satisfaction. But the key is showing workers that they have been heard.”