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HR has abundant resources, however to bridge the generational gaps and provide employees with what they want seems to be a similar issue. In years past, HR only had to deal with Baby Boomer and Traditional values, which were similar in nature, however the new generations have different values and have different career paths than their elders. For example, “Why is it that Gen Y has not been more actively recruited? Why is it the Baby Boomers remain in the market place? Why would someone still want to work when their 70?” These are all questions an HR hiring manager has to decipher when determining candidates for a position. The task has become quite difficult due to the broad spectrum and variances of these generations.
Employers need to have a solid understanding of what is important and valued by each generation when deciding on their recruiting strategy. It definitely helps understanding each position by itself and the ideal requirements before determining what generation to key in on for a hire. “Managing multigenerational workforces is an art in itself.! Young workers want to make a quick impact, the middle generation needs to believe in the mission, and older employees don’t like ambivalence.! Your move.” (Harvard Business School) Is it an opportunity for career growth, do you need more experience in the position, can you live with a part time employee? Based on the answers to some of these questions plus others can weigh heavily on employee retention and be significant factors on deciding which generation to focus in on for your hire; this can save costs both on the front end with ease of recruitment and backend due to retention. Thus let’s look at the different generations and what they look for in a career and a company....
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...ts, are not the only resources that will attract and retain these type of employees.
Works Cited
Executive Office, Talent Management Team, comp. "Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y(and Generation Z) Working Together." UN Joint Pension Fund (n.d.): n. pag. Web
Harvard Business School “Working Knowledge” Newsletter - April 17, 2006:! “Can you manage different generations?
Lagunas, Kyle. "A Generation Y Perspective on Performance Reviews." The New Talent Times 20 June 2011: n. pag. Print.
Szakonyi, Mark. "Different Generations Require Different Feedback, Motivation." Jacksonville Business Journal (2008): n. pag. Web.
Scotia, Nova. "Embracing the Diversity of a Multigenerational Workforce." AASCIF (n.d.): n. pag. Print.
Stern, Linda. "Genertation Y: Educated, Underemployed and in Debt." Reuters.com. N.p., 19 May 2010. Web.
For an example “The common theme is a fear or a reluctance to hire people under 30, because they are unpredictable, and, ‘they don’t know how to work,’” says Cam Marston (Wooldridge). In the same way this goes along with older people seemly more intelligent, Reliable instead of collage kids which briefly explains why it’s hard to find a job in that sense. Additionally labeling helps discriminate millennia’s especially if from older employees example “Wilkie notes that it’s common for older workers to see younger workers as a threat, and take the easy way out by labeling them as somehow different” (Wooldridge). Hence the reason the older won’t like the younger because of the fear being replaced so they start shaming millennia’s. This is important because ageism is seriously a huge common stereotype in a sense people might judge you on because they feel
“Bridging the Gaps” began by defining the three most dominant generations in the workforce: Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1981) and Generation Y (those born during or after 1982). Wilson stresses the importance of understanding each generation’s unique characteristics to take advantage of their strengths. This approach also minimizes confrontation when multiple generations work together. Wilson lists characteristics such as being entrepreneurial, ardent about social causes, and independent as similarities between Baby Boomers and Generation Y, while Baby Boomers and Generation X both value loyalty, focus on finances and believe in a hierarchy of order. Lastly, Generations X and Y are flexible and technologically savvy.
We are experiencing in our work force a changing of the guard, currently there are three generational groups that make up our workforce: The Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials, who for the past few years have begun to work together. However, what we are discovering is that because of the time frame of their births and the life altering affects during those times, it has influenced the values and objectives of each of these groups, ultimately affecting their ethics and values, in the work place. We will continue to discover the differences in each of these generations, their outlooks, and the steps that business leaders are taking to evolve their training programs and procedures to accommodate these changes and maintain or increase the ethical standards of their companies. Many business leaders are striving to ensure that a generational divide does not lead to miscommunication, hindered performance, and most importantly, put their company at risk.
These three generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y all bring their own share of values, beliefs, thoughts and opinions, perspective and experiences to the workplace. The dynamics of the workplace is directly affected by the differences among these three generations. Today’s current managers need to understand how to efficiently manage and lead a multigenerational workforce in order to increase productivity and meet organization goals and objectives. Recently, there has been changes in the general management. From 2008 to 2013, there was some serious shift in Gen X and Gen Y moving into managerial roles. According to Matthew Golden from Biz Journals, the most prominent change was 87% of Gen Y moved into more managerial roles compared to
HR and talent management professionals who take the time to educate employees on generational issues will improve intergenerational understanding, multi-generational inclusiveness, respect, and productivity.
Today, America is faced with many issues as a society. From environmental concerns, to sexual and racial equality, to common health fears, our issues as a whole appear to be spread across a wide shield of worries. It seems like generational issues would be miniscule compared to these overarching problems, however generational issues in American work settings are actually rapidly becoming a growing concern for many companies and organizations, including this one.
Currently there are 3 major generations in the workforce, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The two biggest clash is seen between the largest generation gap, Boomers and Generation Y. The two generations have contradictory work preferences. “Boomers obsession with work vs Generation Y's flexibility, Baby Boomers preference for autonomy and Generation Y's for collaboration and working in teams, Baby Boomers respect for workplace hierarchy against Generation Y's preparedness to challenge management and so on” (Helyer & Lee, 2013). “Some generational differences can be addressed through effective human resource management. For example, organizations train managers to provide frequent feedback to members of Generation Y, and they show respect for older generations’ hard work and respect for authority by asking them to mentor younger workers” (Raymond, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2014).
Upon entering the workforce, this generation worked for organizations that had “clear lines of authority, strict assignment of responsibilities, rank based on seniority, and an implied work contract; they expected to work for the same company until retirement and valued job security and stability” (Fore, 2013). However, because this generation was often absorbed with the past, “technology represented an unpleasant change that required training and adjustment, as it affected both their work and personal lives” (Fore, 2013).
Smola, Karen Wey, and Charlotte D. Sutton. "Generational Difference: Revisiting Generational Work Values for the New Millennium." Journal of Organizational Behavior 23 (2002): 363-82. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. .
As a matter of fact, the manner in which they handle their children at home, managing their expectations should be the actual case in the work places. The generation Y employee is a constrained bomb of ideas, innovations, and expectations which only then transforms to expectations. The point is, these young employees have abilities that lack capacities. So now they look unto the generation X, the management to feed these capacities, as much as they may do this in a shrewd manner definitive of their expectations (Vaiman & Vance, 2008) Ideally, the generation X should be ready to embrace change in whose case the models of change should be very instrumental to help them manage the generation Y and their ideas and suggestions of change. The synthesis of the two conflicts now becomes the fusion of cultures to end up with a stable understanding of procedures for the young employees and a modern inception and injection of modern ideas into the long held organization cultures,
The Z generation is currently making its way into the modern day labor force. Similar to their generational predecessors these individuals bring new perspectives into public management that have yet to fully crystalize into the field. Nonetheless, in order for public management to capitalize on the characteristics the Z generation bring to the labor force it is necessary to correct the shortcomings of the field in regards to the topic of generational characteristics. This paramount task begins with acknowledging that generational characteristics are not stagnant. In addition to acknowledging that their impact is not limited to the scope of management in private organizations. This document hallmarks the term “Generational Competency”, as
Klobucher, T 2011, Characteristics of Generation 2020: Generations at Work, The Great Workplace Revolution, accessed 11 November 2013, http://www.thegreatworkplacerevolution.com/characteristics-of-generation-2020-generations-at-work/
...The importance of the generational mix within an organisation is that it brings about inclusivity and helps generate new innovative ideas that could bring the organisation to its sustained competitive advantage. With each age group with its expectations by interacting with one another, there is knowledge and experience exchange.
There are many generations in society such as Traditionalist, Baby Boomer, Generation X, Y, and Z. Generation Z is the youngest generation in the list. However, in any work place, Generation Y, which is known as an Echo Boomers or Millenniums, is the youngest. No one knows how it emerged, but it began in 1998 and ended in 2006. The people in this era were born between 1977 and 1994, which is my generation. In the United States, there are seventy one million Generation Y-ers, which takes up the largest part of population. Unlike other generations, Generation Y has very outstanding abilities and environments to success. Those abilities and characteristics are efficient in business and companies. Also, Generation Y’s remarkable characteristics affect their social lives a lot. The Generation Y is very family centric, and able to catch up the trends. Their general cultures are pop-music, iPods, social websites, like Facebook and Twitter, and anything that relates to technology. In principle, Generation Y-ers are optimistic, social, and have high self-esteem. Those characteristics bring many pros and cons to hire them. Pros are general mostly, but cons are not true mostly because of misconceptions.
Erickson, Tamara J. Plugged In: the Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work. Boston, MA: Harvard Business, 2008. Print.