Assessing psychological contract in the generational workforce

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The term psychological contract is gaining significance in the present scenario of changing work force. It generally refers to common trust and fairness between employer and employee. Psychological contract comprises of three important aspects namely perceived employer obligations, perceived employee obligations and violation of employer obligations .Psychological contracts are an individual's opinions or belief concerning mutual obligations. But beliefs become contractual when an individual believes that he or she obliged to the employer contribution in terms of hard work, loyalty, sacrifices in expectation of certain inducements such as high pay, job security. Employer and employee must be mutually benefitted each in terms of Commitment, loyalty, job satisfaction, Good pay, Job security etc. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This study assesses how psychological contract is changing in the multigenerational workforce. The research is conducted among the employees of automobile industry. The research is based on both primary and secondary data. Through structured questionnaire survey method the primary data was collected. The sample size consists of 200 employees from automobile industry. Findings: The study shows that there is a generational gap exists in the perceived values of employee obligations and it was found that It is important for the employer to understand the different values, characteristics, and life experiences of each generation workforce in the organization to fulfill psychological contract. Application\Improvement: The study gives insights to an organization to deal with multigenerational workforce and understand the obligations that exist between the employee and the organization. The paper also guides how to maintain psychological contract between employee and employer and how the employee expectations must be fulfilled by the employer.