The workplace is evolving faster than many would have ever imagined. Here's some recent changes:
- Young women are making more than men.
- There are more women managers than men for the first time in US history.
- Employers are recognizing the upside to combining flexible hours with telecommuting.
- New workplace policies are attracting candidates, retaining staff, and driving higher employee morale and productivity.
Netflix, for example, has a NO VACATION and NO CLOTHES policy. This doesn't mean what you might think. It means that if you need a vacation, you take a vacation. If you want to dress up, dress up. By not having a policy on vacation or dress it allows workers the ability to make decisions in their lives about what they need. The reaction of fear that some might have on the absence of a policy such as "What if someone takes a year-long vacation?" misses the deeper understanding about the two great protectors of mankind: shame and guilt. An employee who was abusive of the freedom would either have other issues, or really, really need it.
Talking with my brother about 38 Studios, Curt Shilling's videogame company, he shared that Curt also believes in the NO VACATION policy. His reasoning is that if someone needs a vacation, shouldn't they take it? What would the implications of denying them it. Curt also reportedly supports a NO SICK DAYS policy as well. If you're sick, you're sick. You can't control if you get sick, so it's foolish to put constraints on sick time.
Best Buy, the electronics superstore, has 45,000 workers on a ROWE
schedule. ROWE stands for Results-Only Work Environment. Employees can work wherever they want, whenever they want, so long as they deliver results that are professional and up to Best Buy standards. As a result, employee retention is high, turnover low, and morale great.
Google is renowned for their different way of working. 20% of all employees time can be spent doing whatever they want so long as it's aligned with the mission of Google. They can work as individuals or teams to create great things. And look at 
the innovation that's come out of that company. Others are recognizing these new models and they are delivering better business results with increased employee happiness. What's not to love.
Robert Levering, who runs A Great Place to Work Institute, has often reminded me that there are 3 characteristics of a great place to work: 1. People have to feel that they control their work and that their work is meaningful, 2. There has to be bi-directional trust between management and employees, and 3. Workers need to like the people they work with. To this, we should possibly add the dimension of an inspiring structure that unleashes the passion and excitement of the worker. 
As to the previous points concerning the role of women in the workforce, it wasn't so long ago that women were competing with men, and the models for women leadership in business was one who held traditionally male business characteristics that downplayed emotions, empathy, and compassion (see the movie Wall Street for an example). But with recent upheavals in the workplace and changing workforce, we have the opportunity to redefine what it means to work, and as a result to build a better place to work. And it may result in a workplace that is more humanistic, flexible, and adaptable to human needs.
Great places to work do exist. And you deserve to be happy and work in a great environment. I've talked with people who have been part of a great place to work and it makes a huge difference in your career, your personal life, and your ability to help others. Take the extra time to ask in interviews and in your research, "What makes you a great place to work?" You will feel inspired when you hear the response from someone who actually works at one.