Despite organizations thriving in being diverse, generational gap can be a blessing or a curse depending on how well the management can maneuver to bridge it to create a well and all-rounded workforce.
Enough can’t be said about how diverse a workforce can be, more so the generational gap that exist. Generation X and millennials are words that have been thrown around for a while now and if you are part of the working population you happen to fall in either one of them. The latter however, has been the subject of discussion in many spheres especially in the corporate world where most of those walking through office doors seeking employment happen to be between 39 to 22 years; the millennials also known as Generation Y. Despite organizations thriving in being diverse, generational gaps can be a blessing or a curse depending on how well management can manoeuvre to bridge the gap to create a well and all-rounded workforce.
Fuzu being at the battlefront of understanding and tackling career and talent related issues, played host to its industry partners at yet another successful breakfast event that was held at The Nairobi Serena Hotel themed ‘Millennials in the Workplace’. This was specifically to understand millennials from the employers’ perspective. Is it true that all they want is to have is a job that makes them happy and creates a sense of purpose? Want continuous and instant feedback as opposed to the once a year performance review and are not scared to change jobs?
This was discussed at length by the invited guests with a wealth of knowledge from their experience with guest speakers who are industry captains in their own capacity namely: - Peter Ndirangu HR Director L’Oreal and Robert Njogu, HR Manager-Broadband Communications. From the discussions, the following were brought into light: -
1. On retaining millennials vs other generations businesses have to;
a) Adapt and conform to the ‘Millennial way’ of thinking.
b) Maintain engagement; develop a culture of providing constant feedback between the employee and leadership.
c) Incorporate social media use as a business tool for communication and brand building.
2. On managing millennials expectations businesses have to;
a) Recognise communication as the key to managing expectations.
b) Engage on medium term career plans and look at potential pathways to achieve alignment for win-wins between the business and talent.
3. On talent acquisition businesses have to;
a) Partner with institutions of higher learning to create talent pipelines.
b) Have on-boarding programs that allow for capacity building focused on millennials’ growth in their areas of interest while at the same time allowing for alternative career pathways.
4. On succession planning businesses have to;
a) Develop special projects to foster an inclusive culture. E.g. the “C.E.O challenge” where problem statements are tasked to groups which are encouraged to present solutions to the Executive teams for adoption as a business process; Tailor assignments.
5. Businesses have to develop non-conventional corrective actions for millennials.
This can be done by providing interactive and direct channels for conflict resolutions e.g. use of anonymous surveys.
6. Businesses have to constantly come up with ways to engage millennial talent.
This can be done by providing opportunities to showcase talent; an easy way of plugging and playing to what millennials are passionate about and not just expect them to ‘‘work’’.
With this in mind, as an organization you wouldn’t find it hard to Attract, Recruit & Develop millennials. And don’t forget to embrace the new slang and terminologies that come with it.
What’s your take fellow millennial?
