Jan 29, 2015 | Blog

Something’s Gotta Give in 2015

The Theme of 2014 -- Prosperous but Exhausted

When I ask my clients and human capital professionals about their greatest challenges and triumphs of 2014, their responses to me are remarkably consistent:

“My company is thriving financially, but I’ve never worked this hard or been so tired in my life.”

The recession of 2009 led to massive restructuring and leaner modes of operation. Efficiencies that were meant as short-term, emergency measures took root and still persist 5 years later. From a financial standpoint, the efforts have paid off handsomely for companies. Corporations are profitable and shareholders are happy. But the actual people, from the executive level down to the line worker, are exhausted. Most are performing the jobs of 3-4 pre-recession positions and all are doing more with less. Everyone is stretched thin.

If you probe these professionals, who are predominantly Generations Xers and Baby Boomers, they will also tell you that they are performing the work that others should be doing. Their bench strength is weak, they say, and they are dealing with a new generation of “Millennial” employees that lacks the skills and initiative to pick up the slack.

These experiences and feelings are legitimate. The Millennial generation is twice the size of Generation X and reached a critical mass in organizations in 2014, placing new demands on people and practices at work. Their values, technology and communication methods contrast greatly with those of older generations and have caused confusion, frustration and duplication of work. If you overlay this phenomenon with the after effects of the Great Recession, you have a perfect storm of corporate financial success and employee exhaustion.

Something’s Gotta Give in 2015

Corporations will not be giving up their profit margins or increasing staffing levels anytime soon. The financial gains from this new normal are too lucrative to ignore or alter. Since the “New Economy” is here to stay, something else will need to give for our situations to become sustainable again. The fix, however, will not be quick.

The integration of the Millennial cohort into a Generation X/Baby Boomer dominated world of business is like the introduction of a new technology. It will take at least 10 years along the adoption curve before this “new model” is ubiquitous and standard. As with other shifts in the marketplace, those that accelerate adoption will have the competitive advantage. These “early adopters” will embrace not only new leaner structures and methods of operation brought on by the recession, but also the new norms and tools for communicating and collaborating that are intrinsic to the Millennial generation’s code of conduct.

Others -- companies and individuals -- may need a push along the curve. This will need to take the form of:

A New Era of Work

We are in the beginning years of the arc of a new era in which all signs point to a leaner, more collaborative workplace run by the Millennial generation. New ways of communication, collaboration and management will smooth the way to a cultural integration of this generation that will likely take 10 years to run its course. This will be a long process, and each individual and corporation will need to learn how to work together to bring out of the best in each other, for the good of the business and the employees. Where are you along the curve?

 

Amy Hirsh Robinson, MBA, (www.interchange-group.com) is a leading expert on the changing workforce and the impact of generational shifts on organizations. She consults to Fortune 500 companies, privately held businesses and not-for-profits to prepare and retool leaders and their workforces to excel and compete in the New Economy. Her strategies and programs focus on onboarding new employees to ensure the retention and engagement of top talent, managing and motivating a multigenerational workforce, and building competitive talent pipelines through effective succession planning practices. Amy speaks and publishes widely on workforce strategies for the New Economy and has been cited and quoted in publications such as Forbes, the Los Angeles Times, and the Huffington Post.