The makeup of today’s workforce is changing, it is estimated that the “millennial” generation will outgrow the Baby Boomers to be the largest living generation in the United States. This poses some unique opportunities and challenges for private, public, and nonprofit sectors. For the public sector they will need to understand how this generation wants to engage in the workforce. For the continued success of the San Francisco Controllers office, I recommend to develop strategies for both recruitment and succession planning for this new generation. Understanding current organizational gaps, millennial motivations in the workforce, and capitalizing on this generation’s desire for skill and leadership development, will ensure that the Controller’s Office will be able to carry out their goals for the future.
In analyzing our current workforce ages and positions within the office, I recommend strengthening our recruitment, development, and retention strategies to meet this new generation that will shape the workplace in the future.
Workforce Profile
Currently the Millennial generation comprises between an estimated 10-17% of the Controller’s Office, when defining a millennial as someone between the ages of 18 to 34 (Pynes, 2004, p. 28). In the chart below (Figure 1), you can see the breakdown of the office’s age groups. As the 60-65 year olds leave the workforce it will be important to recruit individuals within the younger generations to develop a visionary workplace
The most prominent change in the workforce affecting human resources at St. Anthony’s is the rise of a multi generational workforce. Providing different human resource needs for various employees is an evolving challenge. Being aware of different workplace standards between generations is taken into consideration to reduce “pain points” (Calvert, 2015). In the interview, Judie grouped Generation X and Millennials into the same group, and focused primarily on the differences between Baby Boomers and Gen X/Millennials. She described the Baby Boomers as
The Workforce Matters guide for New York State agencies is a very valuable guide and relevant in 2012. It provides insight into the agency staff by recognizing the aging workforce and upcoming retirement; it recognizes the knowledge, experience and institutional memory that will leave the company once these long term employees leave. The plan addresses the changing demographic of its customers and the potential need for “new methods of service delivery and a workforce that reflects its customers”. They did not make the mistake of trying to solve staffing problems across the
It’s the first time in American history that five generations are sharing the workplace, from Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millennials or Generation Y, and the new unnamed generation. With five generations come five sets of ideas, how to conduct one’s self, approach activities, values and motivators. Different beliefs, understandings, and undertakings create misinterpretations and frustrations. The fire service is currently facing a similar situation. It’s imperative to recognize and understand these differences to avoid misunderstandings and to help your department work effectively to meet its goals. Not every employee displays aspect of their generation category, but understanding the individualities of each generation will help with teamwork, supervision, embracing change, and productivity. With each generation there are different communication styles and driving factors that motivate production. It is essential that you understand how each generation communicates and what they motivators are so that you can communicate ideas and organization vision to them. What can we do in the fire service to prepare to handle these challenges?
The generational span is exceedingly larger today than in the prior history of our nation. The multiple generations consist of the veterans 1922-1945, the baby boomers 1946-1964, the generation X 1965-1981, and, the generation Y 1982-1999, in addition, upcoming millennial generation born 2000-2016 (Murray, 2013). There frequently are misconceptions and misunderstandings based on the differing perspectives of each generation. Moreover, as an effective leader, one must comprehend and acknowledge the characteristics of each generation and utilize these individualities to mentor and motivate the staff they are leading (Hendricks & Cope, 2012). In addition to considering the impact of the generational
The most prominent change in the workforce affecting human resources is the rise of a multi generational workforce. Providing different human resource needs to various employees is an emerging challenge for Judie. In the interview, she grouped Generation X and Millennials into the same group, and focused primarily on the differences between Baby Boomers and Gen X/Millennials. She described the Baby Boomers as skilled in their jobs, thankful to be working, and without questioning change or decisions in the organization. However, she felt Gen
Many employers are challenged with handling the millennial due to the lack of proper understanding of this generation since there is plenty of myths, propagated through anecdotes and assumptions. However the separation of the myths and the facts is important for an organization so as
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).
The workplace of today involves interactions among people from four different generations often causing much conflict for leaders and organizations. Each generation represented has its own set of different values and beliefs. These differences can easily lead to conflicting barriers within the workplace. This can pose a significant problem for those in leadership. In order to combat this issue, leaders and organizations can effectively deal with these issues by offering different programs such as executive mentoring, town hall meetings, and leadership seminars for those in leadership.
The topic I chose to research and discuss is the topic of recruiting and retaining the best employees. I chose this subject because I felt it was important for an employer trying to compete in this very competitive business environment, no matter what the business is, to be able not only hire the best and most qualified employees but retain them and keep them motivated. The ability to distinguish the difference between high performing employees and lower performing employees can be detrimental to a company’s success or failure. In retrospect, this goes back to recruiting and retaining the best employees while avoiding and being able to let go of those of a weaker caliber. Before an organization can thrive in recruitment and retention,
“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.
Effective leaders of my age are faced with a few challenges, quite a few actually. One being the generational divide that currently exists between four different workplace peer groups: Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, my age group of Generation X, and Millennials. Aside from increased global diversity, our workforce has mushroomed with generational cultures as well. Young associates of today are the future leaders of tomorrow, yet there is an obligation to honor the long-term commitment of our older associates. When bridging these distinct generations,
Many changes are happening in the workforce today. Our labor environment consists of multiple generations, which creates fundamentally differing approaches to everything from work ethics, business management, and co-worker cooperation. The most recent generation, commonly known as “Generation Y” or the “Millennial” generation, is slowly taking over the workforce. Because they bring with them a radically new mindset and opinion of labor, the global business infrastructure should be modified to not only accommodate “Millennials,” but also to remain sympathetic to the business practices characteristic of previous generations. Doing so will provide more harmony and productivity among co-workers of different generational backgrounds.
In the present diversified work force in terms of age ,gender,culture ,work style, the employee demographics consist of the four generations which are Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millenials
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.
Millennial employees will request a wide range of responsibilities, even on the first day of work and do not be astonished will they completed the entire assigned responsibilities. They have a can-do attitude, but often require frequent feedback