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Knowledge Worker

Many of the knowledge workers currently entering the workforce are from the generation X demographic. These new knowledge workers value life-long learning over life-long employment (Bogdanowitz and Bailey, 2002). “They seek employability over employment [and] value career over self-reliance” (Elsdon and Iyer, 1999). Where baby boomers are proficient in specified knowledge regarding a specific firm, generation X workers acquire knowledge from many firms and take that knowledge with them from company to company. This creates challenges for knowledge management workers, who must focus a great deal of energy on managing and catering to knowledge workers, in order to prevent them from leaking information to rival companies (2002).

Knowledge workers are employees who have a deep background in education and experience and are considered people who “think for a living.” (Cooper, 2006). They include doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, financial analysts and architects (2006).

Knowledge workers spend 38% of their time searching for information (Mcdermott, 2005). They are also often displaced from their bosses, working in different departments and time zones from their company, and from remote sites such as home offices. Therefore, it is a challenge to knowledge management workers to motivate and connect with knowledge workers due to this geographicaly gap (2005).