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never altered their climb from entry
level to upper management. What
employees wanted, Deloitte vice
chair Cathleen Benko (pictured)
discovered, was for their career
responsibilities to bend to those
at home. The so-called lattice that
Deloitte subsequently developed
allows workers to move up or down
the chain of command as their lives
and outside obligations change,
and without judgment from the
executive class. For employees at
Deloitte, “this approach is far more
appealing” than what they’d find
elsewhere, Benko noted in
Mass
Career Customization
, a book she
co-wrote with Anne C. Weisberg.
The company formally launched
the lattice in 2008, and employee
satisfaction has been up every
year since.
mortgages than their homes areworth.) “It
can be brutal, keeping everything going,”
Kershaw says.
So to be the parents they want to be
while staying solvent, Gen-Xers are work-
ing smarter. Technology allows them to
work on their own time, Howe says. Email,
Skype and Internet-everywhere connec-
tivitygivemany the option toarrange their
own schedules. (Indeed, a study last year
by the Telework ResearchNetwork found
a 61 percent increase since 2005 in employ-
ees working fromhome.) Howe says more
Gen-Xers arenegotiatingflexible schedules
when starting a new position—which is
another reason they don’t want the boss’s
job. In the eyes of resourceful younger
workers, managers are o en 20th-century
relics, reliant on a regimented routine in a
centralized location, Howe says. As David
fromMassachuse s puts it, “I knowthere’s
a be er way.”
PAUL KIX,
an editor at
ESPN the Magazine
and father of three, confesses to occasionally
checking his smartphone during story time.
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