McKinsey & Company found similar trends across Europe and estimated that more than 100 million people across the United States and Europe are now “nontraditional” employees. McKinsey compared these workers to “traditional” employees and found that they were as satisfied or more satisfied across fifteen different work characteristics, such as income, independence, hours, flexibility, creativity, and even recognition.44 Though this group is quite large, it doesn’t have a cohesive voice, and people are often surprised to find that most of these “alternative” workers are quite happy.
