Managing The Changes Within A Public Workforce Trends

“After a century of trying to control people, processes and information, we have come to a point in organizational history where we need to recognize that what worked before just simply isn’t enough anymore.” This goes to prove that over time just like everything else evolves our behaviors towards our colleagues has to evolve as well. And management has to learn the new behaviors of his/her employees. The Millennials and generation Z needs to know that they are appreciated and need to be challenged before they get bored, hence the reason why managers need to learn

The task at hand is for management to understand each generation’s strengths and weaknesses, and

The 21st century has been characterized by a workforce that has three generations, the baby boomers, the generation X and the millennial. As the baby boomers and the Generation X gradually bow out of the workforce, the millennial is increasingly joining the workforce at all levels including the leadership levels. However, the entry of the millennial who are technology natives having grown up in a technology society is causing a stir in the workplace.

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

America has about five generations that function in our society today, and they are Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and the Millennial. It is interesting the way that an age gap influences the thinking of millions of people in different generations. Different times and situations require that different strategies be put in place for the following generation. Solutions that worked for one generation may be less useful for the next, so sometimes, because of the age gap, these solutions cause disagreements. These various ideologies all have one goal, and that is to be successful. We will discuss the path of the Baby Boomers and Generation X in the workplace environment.

Currently the workforce is facing an anomaly; working individuals are likely working alongside coworkers born in different generations. In the near future, the Baby Boomer generation will transition into retirement. This event will open many upper level positions, which the Baby Boomer generation currently holds. The Baby Boomer generations represents 78.3 million individuals in the current population, with the Millennial generation representing 92 million in the current population. When this transition occurs, many Millennials will be given the opportunity to advance in their profession, and secure top-level management positions. Are Millennials prepared to transition into these upper level positions? This report will examine the (a) the multigenerational workforce, (b) the Baby Boomer generation, (c) the Millennial Generation, (d) workforce challenges, and (e) gap bridging recommendations.

A key issue with multigenerational workforces is that senior management may not recognize that the differences between generations is a problem that middle management faces and therefore may not retain the talent each brings to the team. When talent retention becomes a problem in an organization the whole organization suffers.

Replacing Millennials with baby boomers is a problem because they do not want to take on the traditional style of work and life balance. Because of this, Millennials are more than likely to resign from their high-paying positions. Graen & Grace (2014) used the word “traditional” to describe the work life Millennials try to avoid. “Traditional” means repetitiveness of tasks performed at home and work. Millennials leave their high-paying positions because their daily routines of going to work and coming home each day seems boring to them. In the work setting, Millennials become uninterested in their work routine since they have already acquired all of the skills and knowledge required for their positions. Millennials have the urge to work outside

In Kathryn Tyler’s article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, she asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).

In her article “The Tethered Generation,” in Society of Human Resources Magazine, writer Kathryn Tyler asserts that people born between 1978 and 1999, also known as the Millennial Generation, would bring challenges to the workplace, attributing early access to technology and a “perpetual connection to parents” as causes. The article’s central tenet is that through technology, this generation’s “tethered” relationship with peers and parents has shaped communication, decision making, and need for connectivity. Tyler identifies the following Millennial traits as challenges to organizations: “unrealistic expectations with respect to goal-setting and planning;” “only adequate professionalism and work ethic, creativity and innovation, and critical thinking and problem solving;” and lack of autonomy and “sense of self-reliance.” The article ends by recommending that human resource management prepare for the Millennial’s “high maintenance” and their parent’s “helicoptering” with policies and training programs (Tyler, 2007).

“The number of employees over the age of 55 has increased by 30 percent; however, the number of 25- to 54-year-olds has only increased by 1 percent” (Claire, 2009). In 2008 the eldest of the 77 million baby-boomers turned 62. Estimates are that by the end of the decade about 40 percent of the work force will be eligible to retire. As people begin to reach the age of retirement there may be not be enough new employees to fill the gap (Clare, 2009). Companies need to find ways to attract Boomers and Millennials. Companies that want to attract Boomers and Millennials need to be creative in their culture, HR policies and work environments.

When it comes to Millennials, there is nothing that screams “business as usual.” Consequently, savvy leaders who want to remain successful in the global business arena, must concede their current method of attracting, engaging, developing and retaining Millennials as future global leaders is ineffective. Therefore, today’s leaders must develop a more compelling strategy to entice Millennials into leadership. Failure to use strategic foresight to recognize trends regarding future organizational trends and take timely actions to change their tried and true, old school philosophy regarding developing and retaining talented employees will result in losing the competitive edge, which is driven by technology-laden Millennial’s who are poised to innovation.

In today’s world, the problems of managing a team of multi-generational workers can be best described by the difference in the generation in the workforce. This usually is the main reason for conflicts in the workplace but sometimes can be a boon for the employers for the development of an organisation to be more efficient and productive. Authoritative approaches to deal with these inadequate nowadays as these are of differing values and attributes with varying ambitions to either compete or collaborate with each other. Hotel human resource management (HRM) needs to deal with them separately (Clare, 2009). Jobs assigned in an organisation now are becoming more age diverse and the notion that an older employee will report to a younger employee is gradually increasing. As Human resource management aims at improving the quality of life of employees in an organisation, the true meaning differs by generation (Cogin, 2012). Today’s workplace is of three different generations, baby boomers who had an impact on them by the monetary growth after world war 2, generation x are the people who can be sceptical and are cynical at times and focus more on their professional career rather than the corporate work. Unlike others generation y also known as millennials are people who were born with technology surrounding them and are always on social networks. Loved to be known for their knowledge and service. This study attempts to consider the differing values and attributes of these three

Today is the time which can be marked when we can see four generation rubbing their shoulders more or less happily under the same roof of an organisation. Though these generations show drastic variations in terms of their values, commitments, motivational factors, dissatisfiers, work environment, approach towards job etc., yet every generation has got some exceptional benefits for the organisation. Organisation cannot afford to value any of them less than the others. Talking about IT industry, we can hardly see anyone from the oldest generation who are called as the Traditionalists. As the IT sector has reached its forties you can find atleast three generations Baby-Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y joining hands for the success of the organisation.

This paper will attempt to identify characteristics of the millennial generation, what they expect from their workplace, and strategies leaders and managers can use. In order to effectively lead millennials, it is important for leaders to know the experiences of this generation and how these experiences have shaped them. This understanding could give leaders an insight into how to effectively lead millennials in the workplace.