Question

1. When Roberto interviews for a job, he emphasizes how he can partner with the company to help it adapt to meet challenges. 2. Gourd Supermarkets has an extensive training program for all new employees and then has all employees spend a day in customer service and workplace safety training each year. 3. Pure Nature Vitamins rewards employees with annual incentive pay based on that year’s performance rather than salary increases based on seniority.

Answer 1

Answer:

This MQQ is incomplete, here is the full question:

Indicate whether it is typical of the old social contract or the new social contract.

1. When Roberto interviews for a job, he emphasizes how he can partner with the company to help it adapt to meet challenges.  

2. Gourd Supermarkets has an extensive training program for all new employees and then has all employees spend a day in customer service and workplace safety training each year.

3. Pure Nature Vitamins rewards employees with annual incentive pay based on that year’s performance rather than salary increases based on seniority.      

1.  new social contract

2. old social contract    

3. new social contract

Explanation:

A social contract is a term coined by the great philosophers (Rousseau) and it even gained a special theory/movement basis. It reflected the notion that people always make various sorts of compromises with authorities, in the sense that they give a portion of their freedom in exchange for an important benefit, protection or the promise for maintaining the social order.

Although it cannot be wholly transferred to business, the employer-employee social contract can be similarly defined. It includes the terms which the employer and employee accept and they are related to their expectations about the workplace culture, compensation, assessment, development and learning. In other words, it is like the usual behavior in an employer-employee relationship which is common for a certain period of time (20th, 21st century...).

Accordingly, we differentiate the old and the new social contract. The old social contract is related to the notion of work and what it represented to employees and employers in the past century. Employees wanted stable employment, wages that were constant and secure. They were satisfied with slow and steady progress in their career, with not much attention paid to individual assessment. What's more, they were OK with having a single job throughout their whole career, as that was synonymous with safety and well-being.

On the contrary, the new social contract mostly reflects the millennials' way of thinking about work. Sticking to one employer for a lifetime is now more of an exception rather than the rule, as job-hopping is the usual practice. They prefer meritocracy rather than seniority - a structured, robust and established career ladder is a thing of the past. They want frequent assessment which will objectively measure their performance and progress. Likewise, they want tailor-made compensation that is irrelevant of salary ranges or the median company salary.

Culture-wise. the new social contract proposes that employees are willing to make decisions and have a stake in decision making or thorough company transformation. Every particle of work is technology-driven, so they are not afraid of learning new things constantly. That implies the fact that they expect the same from their employers - frequent, tailor-made training and development.

1. Roberto's enthusiasm to partake in company transformation is common for the new social contract. In the old social contract, employees weren't much interested in the background of business operating - mostly, all they wanted was secure employment.

2. Training employees upfront of the job is a common thing for the old social contract. In the new social contract, it is expected employees start a job well-prepared, however, frequent, tailor-made training, in accordance with the employee's skill set  is expected.

3. This is a classic example of the new social contract, as employees like to be paid according to their performance which is objectively measured. The sometimes rigid approach of seniority and complementary compensation is typical for the old social contract.