Playing the workforce generation game: Meeting the HR challenges of changing workforce expectations
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390980001000 |
| Published date | 21 October 2007 |
| Date | 21 October 2007 |
| Pages | 32-35 |
| Author | Peter Walmsley |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
32 Volume 6 Issue 5 July/August 2007
ORKFORCE EXPECTATIONS have
entered a new phase, and as a result
employee priorities today are significantly
different from those of previous
generations. How does an organization address the
issues and demands set by new workers and meet the
challenge of what has become an employees’ market?
What can be done to entice and engage staff? What
actions can be taken to ensure talent management
policies stand up to new worker expectations? Why has
the balance of power shifted from employers to
employees? These are some of the issues that this article
will attempt to address.
Demographic changes in the workforce
One of the reasons for the rise and change in new
workforce expectations concerns the characteristics of
the “new workers”. The former generation, made up of
what are widely known as “Baby Boomers,” is on its
way out of the office and factory floor, ready to settle
into enjoying life through retirement and travel.
Their retirement signals a crisis in some industries,
like aerospace and defence, where up to 40 percent of
the workforce in some companies are due to retire in
the next five years.1Their approach to work differs
from the “new workers”, who Forrester Consulting has
termed “the Millennials”.
New and higher expectations
The advent of the Millennials involves the current group
of young workers joining the employment market and
bringing with them employee expectations that are
higher than ever before. Millennials have different traits
to members of previous generations, such as having
more wealth, being more optimistic and being team
players, as well as being more educated, particularly
about information technology. They are networked and
connected, and with the adoption of online job
applications, if they decide an organization is not living
up to their expectations, a click of the mouse sets off the
recruitment process. With greater global mobility, they
don’t just have the pick of their national job market, but
have far-reaching international choices.
They’re widely informed and they share widely
through their network experiences and work cultures.
The advent of web 2.0 social media on the internet
means employees can easily, instantly and globally vent
their frustrations by sharing them on their own online
diaries (blogs). They can be completely anonymous
while destroying an organization’s reputation. If an
organization is deemed to have an unproductive
culture or poor values, Millennials are happy to share
this with others through the latest technology.
HR’s opportunity to add value
So how does this impact on HR and how do you attract
and retain talent when labor markets are burgeoning?
by Peter Walmsley, HR Access Solutions
Playing the
workforce
generation
game
Meeting the HR challenges of changing
workforce expectations
W
The expectations of new employees are rapidly evolving
and placing further challenges on HR professionals. Peter
Walmsley, HR director at HR Access Solutions, uses his
career experiences and the experiences of a leading
automotive manufacturer to examine changing
workforce expectations and to make recommendations
on how to manage this latest HR hurdle.
© Melcrum publishing 2007.For more information visit our website www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
To continue reading
Request your trial