A New Work Perspective

Law and medicine careers may be losing self-respect, according to this article in the Dallas News. While these professions are still solidly supported by pay, security, schooling and responsibility, there is a sense that their status is waning. 

Excerpt:

This decline, Mr. Florida argued, is rooted in a broader shift in definitions of success, essentially, a realignment of the pillars. Especially among young people, professional status is now inextricably linked to ideas of flexibility and creativity, concepts alien to seemingly everyone but art students even a generation ago.

"There used to be this idea of having a separate work self and home self," he said. "Now they just want to be themselves. It's almost as if they're interviewing places to see if they fit them."

Arguably, such a shift may be more noticeable in high-profile professions. There are a number of spins. For the laboratory, this means recruiting students who may have different assumptions than previous generations. There may have existed a want for a steady job, a prestigious career or a stepping-stone to other professions. "I just want to be myself" is a new paradigm.

I wear a dress shirt and tie at work, for instance. Why? Because it is my work self. My home self is different in many ways, dress being one example. Will the new generation of laboratory technicians and technologists be different? 

It's easier for someone of my generation to dismiss this as a change in "work ethic," when there may be something more fundamental going on: a new perspective on the value of work.

If this is correct and professional status has become a matter of personal expression, then this changes what working in a laboratory means. This will echo in recruiting strategies and, ultimately, in how laboratories are managed to ensure the best patient care possible.