I attended the family holiday party this weekend and while munching on too many cheesy ryes and catching up on the lives of the out-of-town relatives, I was stopped in my tracks by the story of the job change that my gen X second cousin described. It was a stark description of the gross mismanagement of the generations at a unique time in history when we have four very distinct generations in the work force.

The Story:

“Suzie” is a thirty-something pharmacist that grew
up with one of the major pharmacy retailers.  This mega-retailer had
been Suzie’s employer since high-school.  The organization helped fund
her college, provided internships and work over vacations and employed
her immediately upon graduation.  Suzie worked hard, made a great
living and even moved several times to help get a new store off the
ground.

Fast-forward through almost two decades of work to the recent few months, when Suzie is told in no uncertain terms that in
spite of her years of service and her stellar performance, she must not
only continue working weekend shifts, but it was likely that they were
going to increase in number from two times per month to three.
Additionally, her quota for filling prescriptions was going up and she
was now going to be required to call all of her new patients and
in-home patients to check-up.  She described the quota and calls as
stress points, but not deal breakers.  However, the straw that broke
the proverbial camel’s back was the demand for more, not less weekend
work. When pushed, she indicated that her issue was two-fold: the
principle and the approach.

My own perspective on complaining about having to work weekends
is that you knew what you were getting into when you signed on with
this ship.  However, her description of the organization’s rationale
and approach earned my sympathy vote and even a nod for an outrage vote.

Suzie’s employer is growing quickly, and one of the challenges that
they face is recruiting new pharmacy school graduates.  According to
Suzie, she was told directly that, “new recruits do not want to work
weekends, so we are not requiring them to.”  The implication was that
the existing workforce would be required to fill these time slots.

Within three weeks of being told that it was better to be a new
recruit than a two-decade, lifetime dedicated employee, Suzie took a
job at a large manufacturer with an in-house pharmacy.  No weekends, no
prescription quotas and no stress, with a great chance to help people
in her chosen profession.  And no idiotic pronouncements and recruiting ploys designed to alienate a large segment of your multi-generational workforce.

The Real Issues:

  • Over the next decade as the demographics undergo seismic shifts, employers everywhere are going to face an increasing number of issues similar to the one described above.  Whether it is about replacing valuable knowledge workers lost to retirement or competing for the expected smaller number of replacement candidates entering the workforce, organizations are going to have to make tough choices.  Too many wrong choices and they will irreparably damage the tenuous relationship with the people that make them successful everyday.
  • Adding complexity to the situation is the alphabet soup of generations in the workforce (Boomers, X’ers, Y’s and Echo-boomers), each with a very unique way of looking at the world and each with very distinct priorities for what they want and what they are willing to do in their work lives.  The big pharmacy retailer in the story above clearly has a problem–recruiting new workers in a competitive environment.  The choice to  prioritize one generation over three others on a critical quality of life issue, shows their naivete about the bigger picture.
  • The identification, development and retention of the best and brightest is a strategic priority for organizations over the next decade. The traditional approach to treating talent as a commodity is a prescription (pun intended) for failure.  Organizations must foster a culture of talent development or risk losing out to those that make this a part of their organizational DNA.

The Bottom-Line:

Short-sighted, bone-headed workforce policies delivered in a callous manner guarantee just one thing: animosity.  Organizations will be tempted to take short-cuts in dealing with the issues posed by a multi-generational workforce and shrinking labor pool.  While the choices and decisions will not be easy, creative problem solving, perhaps a bit of lateral thinking with respect to meeting the needs of your employees, and a relentless focus on talent development and retention are sure-fire prescriptions for winning.