Personnel in the 1970s.

A look at the changes in the numbers, age distribution, and attitudes of individuals in the workforce and their implications for the 1970s; and some suggestions for action that personnel managers can take to contribute to these changes. In general, personnel policies will be more concerned with fairness to the individual rather than the group, with questions of social concern, with the training of young people and women to assume positions of greater responsibility, with the older employee who will face an earlier retirement, and with ways to lessen the burden on the middle groups. Narrow salary ranges and standardized salary increases, various fringe benefits, and working conditions will all have to become more flexible to be useful as motivating forces and to attract youth to the business community. Six action areas for personnel managers are long-range planning; analytical reporting to top management; more responsibility for young people and women; development of the personnel staff; organization around problems rather than specialized, isolated functions; and a personnel staff sensitive to the changing social world and representative of the company population. (Presented at the Phoenix Personnel Management Association meeting, June 14, 1968.) 13 pp.