The Optout Revolt: Why People Are Leaving Companies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers

As never before, workers are searching for a life that is richer, more balanced, authentic, and challenging. And when they find that their needs cant be met in the traditional workplace, they are taking control and walking away. The OptOut Revolt delivers the facts behind this growing phenomenon: how the universal need for authenticity, balance, and challenge drives career and life decisions for women and men alike; the critical role gender plays in the patterns of todays careerists; what choices women are making and why; how mens priorities differ from womens and how they affect their career paths; and what the best organizations are doing to stem the flow of talent heading out the door. With research data from the authors fiveyear study of over 3,000 professional women and men, and copublished with WorldatWork[registered]/Alliance for WorkLife Progress, this oneofakind look at todays workplace profiles hundreds of modernday trailblazers who have created Kaleidoscope Careers defined by personal needs, life values, and a new 21stcentury definition of success inside and out of traditional corporate boundaries. Featuring dozens of examples from leading companies that have achieved remarkable success in turning around this threatening brain drain trend, this timely book offers a blueprint for designing a workplace that encourages loyalty, retains talent, and, ultimately improves the health and competitiveness of the organization.