I once had a Generation X employee, Charlie, mention that our company needed to do a better job of staying on top of technology and getting some of the old attitudes out of the workplace. He went on to a say that we are always working to attract employees out of college but unless we showed willingness to change, we would not retain anyone from the X or Y generation.
As I pondered Charlie’s words and the industry (natural gas distribution very staunch, conservative, slow moving with an aging workforce) I came across a statement that caused me to pause. “Technologically savvy and ambitious, Generation-X and-Y employees’ attributes and attitudes toward work have the potential to induce generational conflicts in the workplace” (McShane & Von Glinow, 2010, p.326).
I started to wonder was technology the true divide or were other things at play in creating generational abrasion in the workforce, like me? Number one I became aware, I educated myself, I took an overall look at the demographical breakdown of my 400 plus employees, I targeted training, converged work groups and teams, I changed office layouts and technology and the list goes on.
In the end, I was very successful because instead of shutting down Charlie’s statement, I listened, examined my own bias and thought about the benefits of generational harmony. Fast forward nearly a year later, I showed the team that I relied on and appreciated the value of enthusiastic and competent workers from every generation.
I found value in tapping into the power of human capital and harnessing generational differences, not trying to eliminate them, and that in turn removed much of the generational abrasion that I unknowingly had the power to control.
To illustrate our success, every year the company hand-pickedmonth-long 15, top of their class, college graduates from varying educational backgrounds to embark on a month long orientation of the gas and oil business. The intent of the program was to showcase different career possibilities within the company so they could choose where they wanted to work.
It was a big deal, several of the top executives in the company came from that program, so there was a high monetary value placed on the recruitment, retention and on-boarding experiences of these new hires. The success in my region allowed us to be hand selected to educate the newly graduated top talent on the natural gas distribution business (this was the first time West TX was ever selected to participate).
We made it educational, fun, fast paced, project oriented, competitive, evening projects, entertainment after hours and put together one fun and incredible week of natural gas distribution 101 (on steroids). In the end they had to give a presentation to the CEO and his direct reports about their experiences, and guess what? Our region and efforts were raved about by the recruits!
The feedback was outstanding and come to find out years past the recruits hated going to the distribution companies because they made them have a week of death by power points and they were bored out of their minds. The millennial’s on my team that participated in the planning and execution of that week long orientation would have laughed if we said prepare a week of power points!
Workplace harmony will increase employee engagement, when you value and listen to all generations your ability to serve your customer will improve exponentially. Happy employees equal happy customers and increased profits.
Interested in learning how COVID-19 will have an impact on generations in the workplace? Forbes discusses how COVID-19 will change the way every generation will live.
