The workforce is becoming diverse in other ways as well. The percentage of members
of the workforce who are 60 or older was 7 percent in 2004 and is predicted to grow to 10
percent in 2012. 90 As the 78 million Baby Boomers near retirement, they are expected to
remain in the workforce significantly longer than previous generations. 91 Research suggests
that remaining a member of the workforce is actually beneficial to older people’s
health, keeping them more mentally and physically fit. Moreover, medical advances are
helping older employees stay vital longer, just as the physical labor component of most jobs
keeps shrinking. The Baby Boomers are also one of the most educated generations, and
research suggests that their continued participation in the workforce could add $3 trillion
dollars a year to the country’s economic output. That, combined with the uncertainty surrounding
Social Security and stock market–based retirement plans, makes staying in the
workforce a logical call. For more information on how this age diversity affects organizational
commitment, see our OB at the Bookstore feature.
As the economy continues to become more global, U.S. businesses face another
important form of diversity: More and more employees are foreign-born. Although
stereotypes view immigrants as staffing blue collar or service jobs, many of the most
educated employees come from abroad. Consider that half of the Ph.D.s working in the
United States are foreign-born, as are 45 percent of the physicists, computer scientists,
and mathematicians. 92 At the same time, more and more American employees are working
as expatriates who staff offices in foreign countries for long periods of time. Serving
as an expatriate can be a very stressful assignment for employees as they adjust to a new
country, a new style of working, and increased distance from family and friends. See our
OB Internationally feature for more discussion of organizational commitment in multinational
corporations.
These forms of diversity make it more challenging to retain valued employees. Consider
the social network diagram in Figure 3-3 . As work groups become more diverse with
respect to race, gender, age, and national origin, there is a danger that minorities or older
employees will find themselves on the fringe of such networks, which potentially reduces
their affective commitment. At the same time, foreign-born employees are likely to feel
less embedded in their current jobs and perceive fewer links to their community and less
fit with their geographic area. This feeling may reduce their sense of continuance commitment.
Recent trends suggest that the most educated and skilled immigrants are leaving
the U.S. workforce at a rate of about 1,000 a day, particularly when their home country’s
economy begins to boom. 98