Trust me, it's important to understand employees' attitudes.

Children from every generation have given their parents gray hair. Our children's children will do the same. But something is different today. It has to do with work and with workers.

When it comes to our workforce, there is a fundamental shift in the way younger workers relate to jobs, bosses and employers. The shift stems only partly from their generational attitudes. Much of it derives from the way corporations treat employees these days.

The Depression-era generation typically worked a lifetime for large companies. My father worked almost 40 years for one company. As a teen-ager he saw unemployment spike from 4.2 percent in 1928 to 21.7 percent in 1932, when he entered college. Upon graduation, he was thrilled to find any work at all. His loyalty to his company was reciprocated, as it was among so many employees and employers. Firms like IBM were famous for rarely firing anyone.

The baby boom generation bought into the promise. Once you got a job at a company like IBM, you had it made-or so you thought.

Times changed. In the 1980s, thousands of corporations took draconian measures to stay afloat in the face of a tough economy and intense global competition. Employee-employer trust deteriorated. Baby boomers developed a cynicism about the workplace that their children inherited.

In today's workplace, "Trust must be earned," says Gerry Hoeffner, president of Personnel Dynamics, a Brevard County consulting firm. At a recent meeting of The President's Forum, an executive organization in Naples, he stressed that companies must prove that they are truthful. This is important for five reasons:

1. Successful companies must deliver great customer service.

2. Without committed employees, that's impossible.

3. A U.S. employee shortage looms-60 million by 2010.

4. Gens X & Y will have 10 different jobs in a lifetime.

5. Unless companies change their behavior, they won't keep and motivate employees to provide the great customer service that keeps them in business.

How is it possible to make this happen in a global economy, where the typical employer will be a small firm whose benefits can't match even a shrunken IBM?

Fortunately, today's workforce embraces values that companies of any size can support.

According to Hoeffner, a recent survey shows what's most important:

1. A work/life balance.

2. Meaningfulness: work with a purpose.

3. Trust among employees.

4. A positive relationship with the immediate superior.

5. Salary.

A critical component of building trust and commitment is to understand individuals. Hoeffner urges employers to use structured assessment tools to understand what makes each employee tick. Putting the right people in the right jobs is essential. In the end, it's the only way to deliver full value for employee and customer.