The Perfect Storm: Understanding the Three Most Rapidly Changing Aspects of the American Workforce

Over the past 50 years, there have been significant changes in the workplace. However, in the past two decades, three relatively new concerns have exploded and converged onto the scene simultaneously – the ‘Aging Workforce’, the ‘Obesity Epidemic’, and the “Fatigue Phenomenon” – and are quietly creating a “perfect storm” that can be crippling to an organization’s performance. These changes are forcing companies to respond to the challenges of this “new” workforce. The Perfect Storm is broken into three sections: 1) The Silver Tsunami, 2) The Battle of the Bulge, and 3) Sick and Tired and discusses the impact of these rapidly changing workforce dynamics. The Silver Tsunami focuses on the Aging Workforce and the design strategies that can be incorporated into the workplace to help facilitate the aging employees to work more safely and more productively longer, The Battle of the Bulge discusses the design strategies for addressing the obesity epidemic, and Sick and Tired delves into the insidious effects that fatigue has on all employees’ health and performance. Companies can either batten down the hatches and do nothing or they can prepare for what is coming, either way, the ‘perfect storm’ is fast approaching, and how companies choose to prepare for it will determine their odds of survival.