Managing and Recruiting Generation X

To manage this generation managers must be flexible, results-oriented, give them autonomy, are sincere and are straightforward and upfront in speaking with them. As a manager you must give them increased responsibility to prove themselves and don’t micro manage. Managers of Gen X’ers should do what they say they are going to do and focus more on results as opposed to process.

To recruit Gen X'ers you must convey to them that their talents will be used to drive results and that there is a significant career path for them. Gen x’ers have no problem working hard but feel a loyalty to their families as well and often times will not sacrifice their family for their job. Make sure the Gen X candidate understands that you realize how important family life is and that you will be open to them having that work/life balance as long as you get the work completed. Give them timely, honest feedback on performance and specific instructions on how to improve.

Reverse Mentoring

During this difficult economy the most experienced and seasoned employees that would have retired last year, or this year, are now putting that off for another 2-3 years, resulting in a workforce that spans at least 3, and sometimes 4, generations. These generations include: Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen X and Millennials. In a typical environment you have Veterans and Boomers mentoring Gen X’ers and Millennials with the goal to make a more efficient team and, of course, to transfer valuable industry and product knowledge.

There is, however, another side. Organizations that employ reverse mentoring techniques often experience greater respect, teamwork and dialogue between multigenerational teams. When you encourage your younger staff to act as mentors to more senior staff it gives them a sense of purpose and will allow them to share the knowledge and skills (that’s right, younger people have skills and knowledge to offer!) with the more senior people in the firm. Some of these skills can include utilizing social networks, wiki’s and other online tools to allow departments and teams to collaborate more efficiently. In addition, Millennials especially, tend to think outside the box giving a fresh and different perspective on situations and projects.

The moral of the story is the Millennials are the most technical savvy and best educated generation in history and if you don’t utilize their skill sets your competitor will!

What happens after the recession???

I was recently interviewed by a journalist who wanted to know what the short and long-term implications of the current recession will have on organizations and on baby boomers. I, of course, explained that the answer to this question is not a simple one. First, the recession has masked a much greater, and anticipated, problem; the mass retirement of the 80 million baby boomers.

This recession has deflated retirement accounts to the point where boomers now have to consider going back to work full time or delay retirement to recoup what has been lost. This, in a sense, has bought many companies some time in preparing for this loss. However, many organizations have continued to ignore this fact and consider it a non-issue. This may be a matter of habit as the last large generation to retire was followed by the largest generation in history, at the time.

There was never a disruption in the pipeline of quality replacement talent. The new generation, Milennial’s, is larger in size at approximately 90 million, however most will not enter the workforce for at least 15-20 years. What is an organization to do in the meantime? The focus should be on creating flexible work arrangements, altering benefits so that an employee does not max out at a certain age and is able to continue to earn “credits” and, most importantly, there needs to be a system of knowledge transfer in place.

No matter how smart or tech savvy this new generation is they lack the experience, relationships and core competencies that many boomers posses. As we come full circle in answering the question the important take-away is that in the short-term companies need to cut costs and continue to be productive but must do so in a manner that does not negatively impact the long-term success of the organization. Finally, incentivize your baby boomers to stay as long as you can, record and transfer as much knowledge as possible, take care of them because one day they may retire to an island someplace, or worse, go work for a competitor.

Smaller workforce, Increase productivity

Its no secret that organizations are drastically cutting their workforce in light of a deepening recession. This means that a leaner and smaller workforce must produce similar or greater results to stay competitive.

How does this get accomplished?

Along with recruiting budgets being froozen often times training budgets face the same fate. This is a mistake that could result in a significant decrease in production and morale. If an organization must cut their workforce then training needs to be on the top of their list.

How will an individual handle an increased workload? How will teams work together to accomplish more than they needed to prviously? How will you as a manager address this smaller workforce and ensure that you are maxmizing the teams production?

These answers can be answered with a focus on training. Not just generaal leadership training but training that focuses on teamwork and teambuilding.

A Recession - what do I do now?

I recently received a call from a former employee of a major Fortune 500 firm asking what opportunities might be available to him. As we spoke, I started to ask him some questions about his interests and what were the circumstances surrounding his departure.

He said that he was with this firm for over 30 years and they offered him a buyout package. He then went on to say that he had maxed out his retirement benefits and was grandfathered into their health care plan, pausing for a second, he asked a rhetorical question, "What was my incentive to stay"?

An interesting response.

Unfortunately, this is typical of too many companies. There is a downturn in the market and expenses need to be cut quickly and the knee jerk reaction is to give buyout packages to your most expensive and seemingly expendable employees, typically Baby Boomers.

This may appear to be the most rational and effective short term strategy; however the long-term effects could be devastating. Organizations need to analyze their workforces and really understand that retaining their key people, regardless of age, is more important that just cutting costs.

Organizations can strike a balance between cutting costs to weather a recession and staying competitive. An analysis of employee appraisals (making sure to keep a blind eye to the age of the individual) can be one way to effectively separate the top performers from those that are less productive. The other advantage of this strategy is reducing your liability as you now have a documented system for your layoffs and,best of all, you get to keep your most productive employees!