There’s always a drag between economic innovation and social innovation. Within the healthcare sector, for example, one of the most amazing things that we did as humans is finding new innovations for water and food safety, which all directly impacted health. We began fighting disease with drugs and vaccines. Then all of a sudden, it allowed a majority of children to make it from birth to adulthood. 

Prior to the early middle century, one out of three kids died before the age of three. Nearly half of them died before they made it to be a fully formed adult. Obviously, this meant there were more deaths in the 1920s.

On a personal note, my grandfather was born one of eight. But then his family was one of two – my mom and my uncle. Then, I was one of two. Today, my brother has two kids and I’ve had none. So birth rates have declined in large part because we’ve caught up our social norms to our scientific norms.

This plays into the workplace. We’ve left older women in many cases high and dry because the social norms require them to take care of the family, take care of the hearth and the home. Also, they’ve had to take care of both parents, sometimes their in-law’s parents, as well as their kids. And in some cases, their grandkids. So they’re already presented with this incredibly difficult burden. 

Yet the modern norms of today require them to also have a job. We saw during the pandemic that women, in particular middle-aged and late-middle-aged, fell out of the workforce at a pretty precipitous rate. All together these situations created unnecessary stressors for women, and it was simply too much for them to handle. 

Employers can play a vital role to help take off the pressure. “We understand your stressors and we can find ways to help you.” It builds empathy between the employer and the employee. At the end of the day, it’s a good thing for everyone. Everyone wins. 

Within our knowledge economy now, anyone can work anywhere. That means the “9 to 5” standard working hours for many individuals might be a thing of the past. If we’re tethering women in particular to a desk from 9 to 5 while they’re at home trying to take care of their mom or dad, and also their kids or even their grandkids, we’re doing them a pretty significant disservice at the end of the day.