HR FOCUS
There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to handling this shift. Sadly, there is no magic wand to wave to keep everyone well-engaged. But, it is essential that business leaders are recognising these shifts, and putting plans in place to adapt and grow with this generation of employees.
HR departments need to rise to this challenge and ensure that they do not simply upgrade old habits. Areas such as annual appraisal, talent attraction and development need an influx of innovation to keep up with modern demands.
Frustratingly, so many businesses continue with practices such as the annual employee survey, and peg this as an indication of quality engagement. Why would we only look at this one area as the first and last word on employee interaction? Socially agile workforces expect immediate and live feedback. They don’t want to wait 12 months to tell businesses how they feel and how they view the leadership. I’m not suggesting that we scrap employee surveys, but they should be just one of many ways we interact with our teams, or delivered in a different and innovative way. The use of technology as a platform to drive continuous conversation is one way to get live feedback as it is given.
The fact is that many executives are a bit out of touch with modern ways of being and interacting. Our dynamic workforces are highly independent, yet, absolutely interconnected. They know more about your organisation, your management, how you interview, the way you develop people than you realise, and knowledge is power.
Talented employees have choices. The challenge for both leadership and HR is to continuously innovate, so that these talented people choose to be part of your business. Millennials are far more ambitious than their baby boomer counterparts and have a very relaxed view of authority. They expect meaningful connections and interactions with the senior leaders in the business, rather than fear it. They look for opportunities for advancement far earlier than previous generations. It is crucial
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that we recognise this and adapt our development programmes to meet those needs.
Businesses often say that their people are their most important asset. This well-worn adage has never been truer. Our highly interconnected employees spread the word about your business faster and more directly than any structured approach to talent attraction. We must make sure we are actively listening to what our employees are telling us. This will mean hearing bad news too, sometimes.
“64% OF MILLENNIALS ARE LOOKING FOR
INCREASED FLEXIBILITY AROUND THEIR WORKING LIFE.”
HR needs to adapt to this new responsibility. Churning out sheep- dip style development programmes, which are limited in impact for the organisation, won’t cut it anymore. People departments that spend hours rehashing policies and procedures, which very few people now read or want to take time to understand, aren’t adding the value you need them to. HR needs to focus back on people. It needs to think about how to facilitate meaningful connections for our already highly connected workforces. Social learning, knowledge sharing and relationship building need to be at the heart of the strategy to meet the demands of the consumer employee.
Leaders themselves should also be well aware of the power of social connections. They should understand how to use these connections to grow the brand of the business, and they should develop their own voice. There is an appetite for real opinions and real stories like never before, and a consumer driven workforce is searching for the voices they want to hear and work with.
www.servest.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 51
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