The lay-offs (or redundancies) are a by-product of those shrinking or slowing economies and remind us of another time when unemployment rates were even worse. In the early 1980s US, jobs for life disappeared. It took a little more than ten years for this to become a reality in the UK, and it wasn’t long before other nations followed suit. It must be said that, as of this writing, some countries have laws that prevent workers from being laid off altogether in poor economic times, or even fired for incompetence. France, Germany and Italy have made it nearly impossible to terminate employees, and any attempts to change this have been met with stiff resistance. France, for example, has experienced more than one general strike; and Italy has had periods when employees were sent home for half the month while being paid by the government rather than made redundant. Germany has already started saying that they don’t know how long they will be able to continue to give people permanent jobs. The handwriting is on the wall.

Surprisingly, none of this seems to have persuaded most people that these circumstances apply to them. In countries where companies are not obligated to provide permanent jobs and who readily acknowledge that they don’t, still expect those that they hire to work as hard as they did, for as many or more hours as they did, and to be at least as productive as when they did offer such guarantees. Similarly, although workers will tell you that companies no longer give them jobs for life, they also admit that fundamentally, their behavior has remained unchanged. Managers still believe that they hire employees, even though by definition they now are independent contractors; and workers still talk about being “in-between jobs” or “looking for a job” as if they were only temporarily unemployed. However, one has to wonder how someone who is contracted for a short-term assignment can ever be considered to be employed by either of them. This isn’t about lessons learned; this is about maintaining the status quo, even if it’s a lie.

This raises a number of important questions. As a leader or manager, how has your attitude and behavior changed since that defining moment when permanent jobs passed into history? Are you among those who know this to be the case, but are holding out for the status quo?

What’s your attitude toward the people you lead or manage? Do you expect them to think and behave like entrepreneurs? Do you know what that behavior looks like? A friend of mine, Dr Binna Kandola, did a study a number of years ago on entrepreneurship. He discovered that many companies allegedly want entrepreneurs, but when they see the behaviour they screen them out, such that they aren’t contracted or, if they are, they’re more or less dismissed constructively because they aren’t allowed to behave in a manner that’s consistent with their tendencies. Are you guilty of this?

What about generational differences? The United States and the United Kingdom, as well as other nations have four generations of workers in the economy for the first time. Would it surprise you to know that they all work just as hard and produce just as much, but have different ways of doing it? Those born before 1945, and grew up in the Great Depression, are just thankful for a job. Baby-boomers, their children, want a job they like and where they can make a difference, but still work as if they have jobs for life, even though many admit they don’t. Remember that the environmental movement came from this cohort.

Generation X, the children of the Baby-boomers witnessed firsthand what happened to their parents. No matter how hard they worked and no matter how loyal they were, many still lost their jobs. I’ll tell you something else: This generation grew up with computers, and many of them were no more than four or five years old when the World Wide Web was made available to everyone. This generation believes that the Internet makes it possible for them to work when they want, where they want, and with whom they want. Work is only a means to an end. Bruce Tulgan refers to them as the “just in time workforce.” They work a contract, take a few months or a year off, and then they work another contract. Are you trying to control the outcome, or the process? Baby-boomers and their parents want it both ways. Generation X says there are no personal rewards for letting you do so.

Then there’s Generation Y, the Boomers grandchildren. In the West, this is a larger generation than their parents. These workers are in their mid twenties and younger. Guess what they’ve learned already? The current recession has ingrained in their minds that there are no jobs for life. What’s your attitude towards them? Do you expect them to devote themselves to you, work all the hours there are just because they can, while all the while knowing that you might terminate them at the end of their contracts? If this cohort thought even for a moment that being an independent contractor was a once in a lifetime experience, all they have to do is ask their parents what happened to them.

The world of work has changed forever. New leadership and management styles are necessary to attract and retain people. Attraction is comparatively easy, though as skilled labour becomes less and less, it the problem will be exacerbated. Retention is an entirely different affair altogether. By your attitudes, expectations, and behaviour, you actually could be driving them away. It’s up to you.