The ON* is on the Employer

By 2008, our economy will have a different look and feel as traditionalists (b. 1925 – 1942) and baby boomers (b. 1943 – 1960) continue to exit the workforce, by choice or not. Employers will be facing an HR supply-demand nightmare - an excess of 10 million unfilled jobs combined with a shortage of young talent to fill these positions.
That does not leave much time to educate, attract, grow and retain talent. Companies will be faced with some slap-in-the-face realities:

Management techniques that once were effective with baby boomers are NOT effective or even appealing to generation X’ers (b. 1961 – 1981)

Multi-generational workforces create many successes and failures as the age of the workforce rapidly changes; things might get a little messy out there

The value propositions are different for X’ers and millennials (b. 1982 – 2001)

“Live first – work second” ethic rules - X’ers value their work/home life quality and will often pick the place they want to live, and then find employment. Xers want interesting and fulfilling work. BUT salary is not one of their first three motivators. Before dollars, comes high-quality relationships and an emotional share in their company’s success. For this, they need to know and embrace the vision! The ON* is on Companies to work harder (and smarter) to attract and keep talented workers.

Rebecca Ryan’s Recommendations for accepting the ON*:

The behaviors of leaders match their company’s intrinsic values; be your message.

Provide workers with opportunities to be creative, inventive, and provide clear paths for growth and advancement.

Provide the tools, training and technology to attract and retain good employees.

Review how employees are paid, measured and treated.

Have policies and procedures that are proportional and fair

Take time to develop mutual trust between management and staff

Create an environment where there is distributed leadership and influence.

Make sure your employees know what their organization is known for – share the vision!

So look around. Take Notice. Listen. Take a breath. And accept the ON with pride.

* ON – from onus meaning responsibility; burden of proof


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Rebecca Ryan is founder and partner of Next Generation Consulting. She drinks coffee from a mug that says, “Well behaved women rarely make history.” Next Generation Consulting is a thinkubator committed to building Next Generation Companies and Communities. Her columns address the work and life trends of today’s young, tech-savvy talent as well as the tools, tricks and tips for those daring hot companies they work with. Please e-mail topics, suggestions and feedback to Rebecca at rr@wistechnology.com.

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The opinions expressed herein or statements made in the above column are solely those of the author, & do not necessarily reflect the views of Wisconsin Technology Network, LLC. (WTN). WTN, LLC accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein.