The first two bullets describe changes in work and non-work life that are occurring.

The past two decades have seen major advances in technology which allow workers to do more work outside of their offices (e.g., fax machines, laptops, cell phones, PDAs, etc.).  This can be a boon to those who either enjoy such a lifestyle or who need to be at home during normal business hours, but it may mean that workers find it more and more difficult to separate their work lives from their home lives.  Note to instructor: it may be interesting to ask the class to think of such technological advances and how they both help and hurt workers.

Most American workers rate the effect of work on their personal life as very important in employment decisions (Hall & Morris, 1996).  This may be because families are becoming more complex.  More and more families consist of dual earner couples (White & Rogers, 2000) or single parent families, which means that parents juggle work and  family responsibilities.  Also, people are living longer, which means that more workers will need to balance work with caring for aging parents.