Managing the Generations - Making Sense of What Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y Want August 18th, 2008

Heather McCulligh

It seems like lately every time I open up a management or HR magazine, the topic of managing the generations is getting play. There’s no shortage of articles on why Gen Y has different expectations or why Gen X is so unhappy, and so on.

All this made me start thinking about how much of it is actually true, and to what extent do HR and/or managers have to actually deal with the issue? If I ask any of my Gen X peers, or even friends who manage a team, they will tell you there’s a generational difference. I hear the same from many of our customers that I speak to. So clearly, this issue is top of mind for many of us, and needs some attention.

Since I’ve seen so much on this lately, I wanted to share a few of the better articles I’ve come across.

From Employee Benefit News (July 2008), “Keep them at the table: Effective retention strategies depend on the generation” provides a great overview of how organizations are managing each generation a bit differently as a retention strategy. The article looks at various retention drivers including recognition, flex time, career development opportunities and having trust in the leadership team.

One of the best takeaways from this article is how what may work for one organization, may not work for another. One of the experts, Will Werhane from the Hay Group recommends using surveys and focus groups to find what’s important to workers. Good advice to consider, especially when there’s so much information available right now.

A final point from this article (which happens to be from one of my favorite Halogen customers) from Kathy Anthony of O’Sullivan Creel, “You have to create a culture and give people a reason to be here.” You can’t really argue with that, as that should be a guiding principle for all retention strategies and talent management as a whole!

Another article on the subject worth a read is from Harvard Business Online and Businessweek.com “Ten Reasons Gen Xers are Unhappy at Work“. This really caught my eye because it seems pretty much everything I’ve read focuses on retiring workers/boomer and giving lots of feedback and love to Gen y, with not a lot on Gen X. As the title alludes, the article outlines the ten reasons why Gen X is unhappy at work, but does so with the overarching point of how “corporate executives are taking this small and therefore precious group for granted.”

It shares some great insights, that quite frankly, I’ve not read too often elsewhere. Some of the 10 points are funny, and shockingly accurate. That aside, there’s some good lessons for employers here - mainly, don’t forget these workers as you worry about succession plans and training for your new recruits. Gen X has lots to offer, and is often stuck in the middle.

I don’t think the subject of managing the generations is going to go away anytime soon, so I will share more of these articles as I find them. There’s lots to be learned from every generation of workers, and with the right retention and talent management strategies in place, organizations will only stand to benefit from the diversity of experience and skills from each group.

Tags: Generation Y, talent management

Forming a Partnership with IT - Part Two August 15th, 2008

Sean Conrad

Earlier this week we were looking at how to form a partnership between HR and IT, and I wanted to share the story of one of our customers, Carhartt. This leading manufacturer of workwear is a great example how HR and IT can work together and the results they can achieve.

Carhartt, one of the world’s leading names in workwear, was founded in 1889 and is still managed today by descendants of the company’s founder. The company was relying on a paper-based appraisal system, which was frustrating for both HR and IT, while employees were completely disengaged from the performance review process.

Working together, IT and HR agreed they needed a better way to do things, and began to research options for moving to a standardized, automated process that would provide visibility and control. A key part of assessing solutions was the development of a list of requirements from both the HR and IT teams, as well as a feasibility study. Any solution that Carhartt selected needed to be able to deliver a high level of functionality, have a user friendly interface, all while putting the HR/IT teams in control and enabling them to quickly and easily create forms and change the workflow. The feasibility analysis examined a move to an automated solution on two levels, technical and economic, and clearly outlined the impact of this project on the IS team, as well as the expected ROI and cost savings of replacing the existing system.

Upon selecting and rolling out its new employee performance and talent management system, Carhartt has been able to increase the level of employee engagement, gain insight into the process, and achieve measurable cost and time savings. The ROI on the Halogen solution has been 120% for Carhartt, with a measurable annual cost savings across HR, IT and managers.

Additionally, IT and HR working together has ensured that the solution can be used with little support from the IT team as it has put HR in control of the system, managing forms and processes. For IT, very few help desk tickets are opened related to the maintenance or function of the system. As Katrina Agusti, Senior Analyst from the IT team at Carhartt said “Our group supports dozens of systems and this is one of the lowest maintenance systems we have.”

In forming a relationship between IT and HR, the most important thing is that everyone understands the benefits of moving to an online talent management system, and the organization’s requirements and/or limitations up front. By opening up a dialogue at the beginning, it will ease the process of identifying, selecting and ultimately maintaining a solution.

Tags: employee performance appraisal, employee performance management, talent management