The Generational Divide in the Workforce

Editor's Notes

• #3: Stop at 1:09 seconds. DeAnthony to bring hot spot
• #4: Years associated with each generation Tamal to add sources to image
• #6: Increased workload - not understanding that most jobs need more than just technology to perform Source:
• #7: How many Gen Y and Millennials are in the audience that would be offended if a co-worker suggest this? Generation Y sends text messages, tweets and instant messages to communicate, while baby boomers and older Gen Xers tend to prefer phone calls and emails. Throw in that younger workers tend to use abbreviations, informal language and colloquialisms, and you’ve got a recipe for serious communication breakdowns.
• #8: 44 million Baby Boomers will be retired between today and 2030, that is nearly a 1/3 of the current 142 million people who make up the US workforce today. Those people will be replaced by millennial and Z generation workers.
• #10: How the generations view each other in the workforce Boomers views of I have tenure and the experience, lets talk in person and not over IM or email With Gen X we see Boomers not sharing information due to job security The views or perceptions of Millennials is that if they are not getting a far shake they will find another job Closing Approach – Everyone in this audience has there our own perception on how we view each generations; even our own
• #12: Slides shows the different ages range of how Can anyone name all the social media icons? Different age ranges use social media differently with wide array of applications. Your job has applications to stay connected; email, Skype, Blackberry (as they are making a comeback) LinkedIn, Bank, News, Open Table, Fitness, Shopping, Games, Parking, Travel or Ride service Closing Approach – We all view social media in a good or negative way. There is just more at our finger tips than just answer and end a call now.
• #13: Closing approach - As you have seen the different perceptions on how Generations are different with technology and social media the career goals are almost similar based from this survey
• #16: Be transparent. Don’t hide anything from us, especially bad news Modified #1: Mutual Transparency is Valuable. Transparency is a two-way street. The challenge is that people want organizations to be transparent while not violating their personal privacy. This is not unique to millennials. As employees we want to know how we’re doing, what’s going on in our group/project, what’s going to change. As managers we need to know how employees are doing personally (within reason), and if there’s anything that may cause change. That is a symbiotic relationship where information sharing is something like a Service Level Agreement. It builds trust and promotes advocacy and partnership between employee and leader (whether work leader or project leader) Modified #2: We all need to Understand the Value of Compensation and Benefits This is true for anyone applying for a job, negotiating salary, comparing to industry. That’s good homework for anyone seeking a job, regardless of whether it’s a MITRE job or somewhere else. That’s why we see a monetary value when we jump to the My Total Rewards page. But not everything has a monetary value to it. MITRE Institute. Education Assistance. Paid Time Off Accrual. Partially paid FMLA. Not every company does what MITRE does. Original #3: Allow for flexibilityModified #3: Flexibility Must be Mutually Beneficial Some companies are notoriously hyperflexible or inflexible. MITRE promotes a reasonable amount of flexibility but does so under the constraints of what is negotiated with sponsors. Sponsors can be flexible or inflexible. I think we should endeavor in MITRE to be transparent on what work affords what flexibility. Not all work and collaboration can be done remotely. Collaboration can be higher fidelity when it is done in-person. Original #4: Allow for autonomy, but also guide usModified #4: Build relationships that promote autonomy and good behavior In MITRE the hardest relationships to optimize are the three-legged triangle of group lead, work lead, and staff. It’s hard as a group lead to help an employee develop good behavior (proactive engagement with WL, GL) if an employee doesn’t want to develop good behavior. That leads to potentially unfortunate interventions, especially if WLs are not satisfied with employee contributions and the GL isn’t made aware. Original #5: Be a mentor not a manager.Original #6: Help us see a clear career path forward.Original #8: Give us more autonomy over our developmentModified #5/6/8: We Manage Individuals Forward through Mentorship Everyone has a career trajectory, and they’re all different. Folks who are early to a career path may not understand all the possible paths. Heck, they may not even have a career path! But some may have a clear path in their mind and they need to understand how to travel that path. I believe the emphasis needed is in underscoring a basic need for early career path employees – they need help adjusting so they can be more autonomous. Adjusting to MITRE role, adjusting to a career/career path, adjusting to what is expected of them in their contributing role, adjusting how they operate, adjusting their calibration on quality work. The biggest related problems that I’ve experienced in my 10 years in MITRE (as an employee, a Project Lead, and a Group Lead) have been employees that don’t articulate what help they need and managers who aren’t able to have conversations on enabling individual career paths. That might be identifying learning opportunities, developing leadership skills or technical subject matter expertise, assisting in quality review of individual contributions, or seeking out additional mentorship opportunities for employees. Leaders (whether project/task or group) are intrinsically mentors. It shouldn’t matter if we are dealing with millennials or more “seasoned” individuals. Original #7: Promote us when we deserve itModified #7: We all need to Understand Guidelines and Expectations for Promotion. This is not unique to millennials. We have level guide charts, but we also have center/division/department additional guidelines. But frequently employees and managers don’t have a common understanding about where employees stand on a trajectory towards promotion. For some, it’s not a priority. For some, it’s the most important thing. For folks that are early in a career, it’s hardest to understand the ‘baseline’ for promotion. It’s challenging to be able to make that into a quantitative series of steps, because it’s frequently not. An employee can do the things they think they need to do to get promoted, yet not get promoted. A manager can advocate heavily for employee promotion, but fail to get an employee promoted. The best thing we can do is have those ‘clear conversations’ and clearly set those expectations. That’s a two-way street where both parties are active. Original #9. Find ways to make things funModified #9: Involve Junior Staff in Making Things Fun! Sometimes even 38-year old group leads like me are far removed from what is fun, hip, awesome. It’s easy for me to solicit and receive feedback. It’s harder for me to put that into practice. A great technique in connecting with junior staff is to not only seek feedback but put them in charge of organizing activities to make things fun. While everyone’s idea of fun is different, it puts junior staff in a position to be ‘in charge’ and help build a team in a manner that isn’t subordinate to the will of a manager.
• #19: Do people in a particular generational cohort behave according to the stereotypes assigned to their cohort?
• #20: Do people in a particular generational cohort behave according to the stereotypes assigned to their cohort?
• #24: Communication is an important aspect of managing employees. The interaction between leaders and followers is a critical process in any organization.