When he was growing up on a farm in Wisconsin, work and family life blended seamlessly, recalls Thomas Kochan, now a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. These days, however, he sees modern corporate life leaving people to fend for themselves, tending to their own selfish interests. Where does the predictable aftereffect of a decade filled with mass layoffs, restructurings, wage and benefit cuts, and corporate scandals leave the American family?
Kochan, who specializes in industrial relations and HR management in the public and private sectors, says working Americans can no longer rely on leadership from government and unions to improve wages and working conditions. But there is a bright side: The labor economy has been replaced by a knowledge economy where “putting one’s knowledge to work is a more important source of power than withholding one’s labor by going on strike.”
In essence, the strategy he outlines in Restoring the American Dream calls for families to join forces with progressive leaders and use the knowledge economy to their best advantage for satisfaction and prosperity. Chapters in his book discuss knowledge-based organizations, portable benefits, and “restoring voice” at work and in society. Paid family leave for all workers, not just the white-collar crowd, is just one of his suggestions.
Kochan’s previous books have tackled American labor, collective bargaining, and industrial relations. In addition to teaching at MIT he is codirector of both the MIT Workplace Center and the Sloan School’s Institute for Work and Employment Research.