Why workers maintain gains amid losses

Stability rules.

In a year that saw the continued demise of dotcom dreams; a corporate world badly shaken by the events of Sept. 11; and a national economy that teetered for months on the brink of the "r" word before officially being declared in recession last month (with a start date back in March), it should come as no surprise that American workers are increasingly looking for stability in their jobs.

According to one recent survey of chief financial officers, by Robert Half International, 28 percent of CFOs interviewed said they wanted a stable employer above all else - including salary and advancement opportunities.

The once-mighty lure of stock options mattered to only 4 percent. And while that survey only covers one of the top echelons of the workplace, career and workplace experts say stability is coveted at every level these days.

What that means - for now, at least - is that employers once again have the upper hand in the see-sawing balance of power, which in recent years has tilted unquestionably in favor of employees.

In a tightened economy, with hundreds of thousands of layoffs this past year, employees aren't flitting from job to job anymore, and employers no longer have to go begging to find qualified talent that meets their needs.

But that's not the end of this year's story. Experts say the shift in power is most likely only a temporary one, and that it by no means gives employers the leeway to downsize with the kind of slash-and-burn ruthlessness they exhibited in the late 1980s.

Due to a confluence of forces that have emerged over the past decade - including increased awareness of human-resource issues in the workplace as well as the irrevocable information revolution - experts say that in the long term, skilled employees will continue to wield extensive power in the marketplace.

"The pendulum swinging in favor of organizations is very, very short-lived," says Dan Pink, author of "Free Agent Nation."

"In the grand scheme of things, the meta-pendulum has already swung. Forces that are much, much larger than business cycles have shifted the balance enduringly," he adds.

Unskilled workers are always vulnerable to swings in the economy, say experts, while the top 10 percent of the workforce will always be able to write its own ticket, even in difficult times. But in general, they say, the average worker has more options today - giving him or her more freedom in the marketplace.

For one thing, the information revolution has changed, and will continue to change the workplace, despite the bursting of the dotcom bubble. Laptops simply make it easier for workers to operate more independently within organizations, or as contractors.

"That's a change that is enduring," says Mr. Pink. "It has nothing to do with business cycles, and everything to do with a shift in how work is done and what sorts of things are valuable."

For employees who do get laid off these days, it is much more likely than ever before that they will be offered outplacement services than just handed a pink slip and told to clear out. That's due in part, say human-resource experts, to ongoing shifts in employer attitudes toward their workers.

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