People entering the work force in last decade have forced
organizations to think out of the box to engage and connect with them.
Today’s diverse workforce comprises of four different generations namely;
Veterans (entering workforce around 1945), Baby boomers (1960), Gen X (1980)
and Gen Y (2000). Most Veterans have retired, baby boomers are on the verge of
retirement and Gen X likely to retire in another decade or so making Gen Y
future of work force. It is estimated that Gen Y will make 75% of Global
Work Force by 2030.
Till date organizations have been dependent on lucrative
compensation packages, flexible work arrangements, management support and
developmental programs to engage work force. In ever changing organizational
fabric there is a shift in outlook and expectations regarding values, ethos, culture
and career aspirations. The youth today, in addition to the above mentioned
qualities also expects empathy and an intellectual connect from its employer.
At the same time, there are ample opportunities available for talents across
industries making retention number one priority for most CEO and HR heads.
In this era of digital activism the young talent is adept at
using internet technologies. Some are digital natives and some digital adapters
but for all bogging, tweeting, sharing ideas and collaborating over internet
for solution is an everyday phenomenon.
Given this, it is important to understand that work life balance
has now evolved into work life integration wherein employee needs the option to
decide from where to work and when to work. This makes it imperative for
organizations to adopt latest trends be it access to office intranet, work
platforms from remote locations, or BYOD: Bring your own device. Similarly in
today’s era, where everyone is hard pressed on time, having tele- presence in office
for meetings across locations present a good option of saving employee travel
time. Another option is using Skype or Google hangout to conduct meetings,
these again provide flexibility in a manner that employee can be a part from
home, café etc. Apart from leveraging technology, social media tools can also
present an opportunity to develop HR programs which suit the employees’ needs
and help develop a bond between the organization and its workforce. As most
studies reflect, the attention span of any student is about 2.5 hours. Given
this, our Learning & Development programs must change from full day
programs to smaller bite sized, customized online learning modules.
Organizations must use web chats, video/content sharing to deploy training
modules.
Also, professional networking websites like LinkedIn provide
opportunity for organizations to internally know, understand and then leverage
skills, qualifications and experiences of current employees to search better
opportunities for them across functions within the company. This concept is a
clear example of HR looking outside –in for talent development and management
of its current workforce. This could be a game changer in engaging work
force, improving productivity and retention.
Going back to Maslows theory of motivation, self-esteem and
appreciation are strong motivational forces. Workforce today is no different;
they want to share their achievements and recognition's with the world. For
employers, therefore, reward & recognition programs have to take a next
generational leap by starting to recognize employees over social media. This
will boost their self image and desire to showcase to the world. An endorsement
of their LinkedIn profile will go long way to build their bond with the
organization.
I, personally am against censorship of social media websites
like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Linked In in office as this tends to
suffocate employees, and weakens their bond and loyalty with the
organizations. The risk of misuse of these liberties by employees can be
taken care by formulating strong and effective policies.
Workforce today demands clear direction, accessibility to
technology, instant feedback and instant gratification making work a means to
an end. Achievement of this end be it personal goal, professional achievement,
community objective is critical in retention of employee and organizations have
no choice but to embrace technology to make it happen.
Parts of this article were published in Times
Ascent
