Generation Y Employees Are More Difficult to Maintain than Old Generation Employees - Coursework Example

Generation Y Employees are More Difficult to Maintain than Old Generation Employees It has become increasingly difficult to maintain the young generation in work places in the 21st century. This has been a concern to many employers across the world. The rising concern is based on the fact that a growing organization needs to reorient its workforce in order to attain maximum success. A firm that constantly upgrades its workforce and its strategies is more likely to perform better as it changes its approach towards tackling major issues affecting it. The growth in number of old generation workers compared to the younger workers is as a result of a critical shortage of young workers willing to work. Contraction of the young workers’ labor market started with the onset of the baby burst period. During the latter part of the 20th century, in the period between 1946 and 1964 there was a high availability of young workers (Dychtwald & Baxter, 2007, p. 325). These workers have become of age now and because firms are complacent in recruiting younger employees. Consequently, the older generation is performing tasks designed for the young workforce. As the older generation retires, the employed workforce declines. For example, the employees who started working in 1946 were to be eligible for retirement in 2006 if the retiring age is approximately 60 years. Thus, this employees need to be replaced by younger employees whose supply is limited. This will create an excess of the older generation workforce. It is estimated that by 2015, the older work force will comprise of 20 percent of the total workforce (Sherwood, 2005, p. 42-46). Therefore, attaining new talent and development of future leaders should be a major concern in every organization’s staffing process. Organizations need to look into new ways to attract the younger workers (Twenge & Campbell, 2008, p.871). There is intense competition for the skilled labor force among companies worldwide. This is due to the decrease in fertility rate as it is estimated that over the last 30 years, the fertility rate has dropped from 5 percent to at least 1.6 percent (Centre for Strategic and International Studies, 2000, p. 2). The decline in fertility rates has caused a severe shortage of young workers. Firms are therefore forced to retain their older workforce. Each year, the number of new entrant to the labor market continues to drop and the supply of older workers to younger workers in increasing steadily (BIS Shrapnel, 2001, p. 186). Organizations are therefore looking for the older generation to supplement the skills and knowledge of the younger workforce. Firms will also need to implement new strategies to incorporate the younger generation into their workforce. Organizations need to devise a means to transfer knowledge from older generation to newer generation employees. This way, the firms can fill vacancies with an ever growing number of candidates (Lowe, Levitt & Wilson, 2008 p. 44). However, the managements will have to retain the older generation employees by crafting strategies aimed at employee retention. Executives in organizations are forced to come up with outward-focused retention strategies as well as inward-focused retention strategies as this will allow diversity in their workforce, hence an effective team of employees (Myers, Arbor & Dreachslin, 2007, p. 1). Organizations seeking to recruit new and younger workers should be willing to go to campus in order to reach them. Campus fairs are a good source to fish for the young workers. They will also need to attend professional conferences and join associations that are mainly youth-oriented. Internet job posting can also be an activity that a firm can look into in order to ensure incorporation of young employees. These young employees, often referred to us the generation Y, were raised in a period of economic expansion. They are now experiencing a recession and this has contributed to their scarcity. Popular literature reveals that older generation workers work best under close contact and strong leadership. This group is willing to work in any environment as long as they achieve meaning in their work. This generation X group of employees is interested in achieving a work-life balance suited to their individual needs. In contrary, the generation Y cohort is social and culturally diverse (Meier, Stephen & Crocker, 2010, p. 68). This group aims at getting an interesting work with flexible schedules. They want independence and a job that will ensure their growth and development. Both generations have a common aim: they are all motivated to do well and managers should carefully assess them to ensure a diverse employee team. Recently, organizations’ management has started looking into these group differences and their impact on workforce management and employment relations among others. Managers are seeking ways to incorporate both groups in their firms. The generation Y employees are characterized by hygiene and motivation needs such as personal life, working conditions, relationship with supervisor and peers, achievement, advancement and responsibility among others factors (Westerman &Yamamura, 2006, p. 154). Thus to retain this cohort, managers need to support work and life balance in the workplaces. This group believes that professional life is just as important as their general life. Managers also have to provide opportunities for growth and development. This can be done by offering them challenging work as this furthers their knowledge and skills. Generation Y workers need to be motivated constantly and this can be done by rewarding them on their achievements. A safe, comfortable working environment can also draw the young worker to a firm, thus, the management should be focused on ensuring suitable environments for these workers (Hunt & Rasmussen, 2007, p.47). Generation Y employees view being trusted with great responsibilities as a great motivator and hence, increasingly challenging work activities must be assigned to them often. Compensation is also a great youth attractor. Fair compensation will pressure the generation Y workforce to remain in their organizations. As many theorists suggest, generation X employees do not need much requirements as they work to fulfill their individual needs. (Wong et al, 2008, p. 882) In order to maintain this interesting mix of generation Y and generation X, then an effective manager will be required to develop an understanding of the mindset of each of the different generations (Kogan, 2001). So as to retain these two categories of employees, there is need to identify the factors that affect an industry’s workforce. Factors like labor retention, labor-saving processes, technology adoption and training among others determine an industry’s workforce as they can either cause an organization to lack or have employees (Chen & Choi, 2008, p. 597). Employee turnover is greatly influenced by the ability of an organization to adopt new technology. An organization with high technology is more likely to attract employees and moreover, to retain them. In addition, a firm that offers training to its employees will attract more workers therefore avoid a high labor turnover. Chen and Choi (2008) suggest that a combination of human capital, demography, and psychological attributes all matter in explaining the variance in turnover cognitions of many organizations. The entry of generation Y into a workforce presents a range of both opportunities and challenges (Polach, 2006, p. 9). This group demands the most from their environment and is likely to leave if their demands are not met. These employees want to be part of an innovative and energetic organization that values their ideas. In this case, managers have to let go their boss mentality in order to work well with them. The young workers need to be coached and mentored by the managers, thus the need to for managers to forgo the boss mentality. This group wants to be engaged and valued for them to deliver good performance (Whitney et al, 2009, p. 5). Managers thus need to provide clear directions, set goals and provide deadlines to this group. In addition, the managers should offer their support to the generation Y. A management that provides these demands can rest assured that these young workers will get their tasks done efficiently. With generation X workers set to retire, managers need to focus on how to attract the next generation of workers that is the generation Y (Stewart, 2006, p. 115) .These new crop of workers will be the ones to fill the void left by the retiring employees. Stewart (2006) explains that companies are realizing the need to accommodate generation Y. The top strategies for attracting these employees are a fair salary, casual work experience and growth and development opportunities (Throckmorton & Gravett, 2007, p. 8-16). Organizations also need to make the application process easy, for example through advertising vacancies on their websites. In efforts to retain generation Y, organizations should be ready to make changes. These changes should positively impact the retention of the generation Y cohort. (Haynes, 2011, p. 104) This group of workers does not want to be bored; hence organizations can give them challenging tasks. They can also be included in decision making so that they can actively contribute their ideas. Managers should ensure open door policies to encourage them to approach management with feedback. Generation Y employees should also be provided with flexibility to perform their tasks and an opportunity to perform the tasks in their own way. This will motivate them and in the end the organization advances. The following strategies as suggested by Gullatte and Jirasakhiran (2005, p. 599) will enable an organization to diversity by enabling the managers to retain generation X and attract generation Y: Cultivate an interesting and accepting culture: Managers need to understand that young employees want their views and opinion to matter. An attracting culture will pull young employees towards an organization as they know their views will be taken into consideration. If young employees feel that they are contributing towards the organization’s advancement, they will be willing to remain in the organization and thus the organization is able to retain generation Y workers. Develop professional career ladders: Through this strategy, young employees get a sense of accomplishment as they can work towards building their careers. This generation of employees work towards a career; therefore, this will ensure that they remain in the organization. Develop flexible work arrangements: Generation Y employees anticipate flexible jobs. Consequently, a manager working towards accommodating the young worker generation in his organization will need to develop flexible work arrangements. Offer motivation: Motivation to both young and old employees will ensure that they are satisfied. Job satisfaction will ensure that the two groups remain loyal to the organization. Other strategies that Gullatte and Jirasakhiran (2005, p. 599) propose are fair competition and compensation, direct and effective communication between managers and the employees, and developing mentoring and preceptorship programs. According to Gullatte and Jirasakhiran (2005, p. 598), organizations should adopt the following practices in order to capitalize on the aging workforce. Forecast retirement trends: This strategy ensures that the organization identifies potential risks that can befall the organization. Forecasting retirement trends also assures the generation X employees that there future is secured. Implementing formal programs to promote flex retirement: Companies can convince their valued older employees to remain within the organization by offering them flexible retirement options that allow them to have greater work styles. Build a culture that motivates the older generation. This entails meeting the needs of the older workforce and fully leveraging their capabilities. Supporters of the school of thought argue that people who grew up in different time periods have different sets of beliefs, values, attitudes and expectations and all these have an impact on their behavior generally and in their workplace (Glass, 2007, p. 98). The entry of generation Y has brought several challenges to the labor market. The demands of these workers make it even harder to work with them and thus organizations are forced to make changes in order to incorporate them. To recruit and retain a diverse workforce, managers need to be proactive and systematic in their approach to diversity management (Myers, Arbor & Dreachslin, 2007, p. 294). Management should align culturally sensitive recruitment activities with strategic objectives so that value-driven diversity goals are emphasized in recruiting materials (Kickul, 2001, p. 320). Additionally, managers should use informal recruitment processes judiciously so that homogeneity is not replicated (Deery, 2008, p. 794). The labor market is increasingly experiencing shortages of workers and a lack of diversity is evident in several organizations (Dychtwald & Baxter, 2007, p. 327). Formal and informal strategies are being adopted in organizations to improve retention of employees. Organizations that are attracting new employees and retaining old employees have an advantage as the new employees come to the firm with new knowledge as the veterans in the organizations transfer their experience to the new employees. Hence, the organizations that are retaining the older generation of employees and attracting new employees have a greater chance of growth and development. It is also evident that generation Y employees are more difficult to retain as they demand a lot. 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