Employee Benefits Research Institute

Employee Benefits Research Institute

Employee Benefits Research Institute

A good employer is one of the forces behind a humane workplace where harmonious labor-management relations exist. Labor-friendly conditions, particularly those that involve compensation and benefits, value employee happiness and job satisfaction. How and when did a humane workplace evolve?

Early Labor Conditions: Gender Roles and Class Struggles

People during the pre-industrialization period treated the home and the workplace as a single unit, with men and women sharing tasks. However, such egalitarian arrangement changed with the rise of machines and factories.

Industrialization gave birth to stereotype gender roles and socio-economic hierarchy. Middle class men got access to paid work (PW), while women were assigned to domestic work and care giving tasks. For poor households, adult and child members labored in separate workplaces. In both classes, the quality of family life was adversely affected. On the other hand, the wealthy upper class drove the demand for industrial goods.