The New Workforce: A Controversy Caused by Intergeneration Gap

In 2019, I received a lot of questions on how to manage millennials, especially by the Gen X and the Baby Boomer Generation. First of all, I find it funny because it simply means that they ask me how to manage myself, right? Despite all that, there are a lot of controversies when we talk about millennials. Some people say that they are the laziest workforces which only care about personal pleasures (it sounds mean though). On the other hand, some say that they are the most tech-savvy workforces with a lot of creativity (This sounds much better).

I think it is interesting to really dig into this issue, because whether you like it or not, you will work with millennials (like me). In this discussion, I won’t refer to the term “millennials” to describe the newest workforces, because millennials actually consist of those who are at their 30s. In fact, the newest workforces are actually referred as gen z and not millennials. Therefore to avoid confusion on the terms and definitions, I will describe this group of people who have no more than 5 years experience as the new workforces in this particular article.

The Most Common Complaints About The New Workforces

The New Workforces Change Jobs Easily

I interviewed one of my senior acquaintances who works as a professional coach that has seen different types of industry. She said that according o her experiences in various clients, Gen Y populations change jobs as frequent as 5 years while the new workforces do at the maximum of 3 years. So is this true? Yes, it is. Deloitte Survey from year to year found that about 60% of new workforces most likely move from their current jobs in 2 years. Gallup also found that 21% of new workforces have changed job in current year. I also found an interesting result where in the new workforces, only about 14% of them will stay in their current companies for more than 5 years.

There are a lot of factors that may cause this. I found out that self-actualization may be one of the most influencing factors. Senior workers tend to seek stability, but the newest workforces try to seek new challenges and get bored easily. So when they feel stuck with their current jobs, they will most likely change their jobs. The question is, why is it getting faster and faster? We must understand that the newest workforces are tech-savvy and gadgets are crucial for their daily lives. The newest workforces are also the most well-educated generations amongst all. Therefore, they adapt and learn quicker, and thus get bored more easily.

The New Workforces are Straightforward and Ill-mannered

I want to introduce you to a term called juvenoia. This refers to a phenomenon where the previous generation thinks that the new generation is ill-mannered, meanwhile it is actually the same behavior that they committed when they were at the same age. On the other hand, I tend to agree with this complaint, not because the new workforces have bad attitude, but because we are talking about the new workforces. One thing that we must understand is that, the cultural standard differs in every company. For example, in a start-up company you are expected to have radical candor and critical no matter what your position is, to the extent that you may even critique the board of directors. Whereas, a traditional family company that is very hierarchical has the culture where new employees should listen to everything their seniors teach them. 

If we also refer to what we call as work ethics, of course, the levels of standard for those who are experienced and new are different. The new workforces who have a lot of ideas and skill sets that are needed may have hard time to manage their priorities due to the lack of business understandings. Some people may say that the new workforces are stubborn while maybe they become stubborn due to the lack of business understandings from a helicopter view. This is where juvenoia takes place. Everyone who enters the workplace for the first time may experience "culture shock" as the daily life is quite different from university life.

Situation That We Face

For us to understand the situation when dealing with the new workforces better, we must also understand what kind of situation we are facing. It is not fair to make a judgment before we see the background and what kind of problem we are dealing with today.

Today is no longer the same as 20 years or even 10 years ago. A lot of experts say that this is VUCA era. In general, we can say that in VUCA era, prediction becomes harder because there are more and more factors that may affect businesses and they are constantly changing. That's why if companies just stay as they are without any innovation, they may become obsolete. For example, we may see that retail business is declining because people prefer to buy stuff online, and therefore some retail industry creates an online platform.

VUCA has become more and more relevant to today's life because the world is getting more connected through physical environment and also the internet. When there is connectivity, people have more information, and when people have more information they become smarter. On the other hand, having more information means having more inspiration for a lot of things including lifestyle, demand, etc. So when you say the new generation is lazy, let’s consider that it happens because of the comfort of technology that allows us to do a lot of things faster, cheaper, and easier. When you can achieve this, why do you need to do the hard work, right?

Since the lifestyle, environment, and information access are different, the priorities of the younger generation are also different. Based on a Deloitte survey in 2019, what they care about are traveling, high salary, and making an impact on the society. So as we can see, the new workforces have high idealism about creating positive contribution, while on the other hand, they also care about their personal goals. Many millennials and gen-z based on a two-year study by Deloitte think that their companies only care about making money with the lack of social/environmental responsibility. I think this correlates with many start-up and movement arises from the millennials lately, because they try to create more social/environmental impact. On the other hand, I think having the priority of high salary is something that is still the same across generations because if we talk about human needs, this is the most basic one.

Another question which I am also curious about is, why do people leave a company? What makes them stay and what makes people try to find another job? In my survey, the number one factor that makes the new workforces leave a company is their bosses. Based on their complaints, situations such as when the bosses never listen to them, critique their ideas, and also when there is lack of involvement in decision making, make them feel uneasy. On the other hand, what makes them want to search for another job is also salary and opportunity for a better career. It is still true that higher wages will make people stay. For new workforces, the opportunities for them to actualize themselves and learn are very important. What I also find interesting is that, a lot new workforces state that the culture of a company may also influence their decisions. After in-depth interviews with several of them, I found that what they mean by culture is the day to day interaction with the employees. For example in one company, the high-level bureaucracy makes them uncomfortable, while on the other hand, there are also some new workforces who feel that the company hierarchy always makes the decision. Therefore, they feel less contributing and thus seek for companies with high empowerment culture. So I think this correlates a lot with what KPMG stated, where the new workforces also seek for enjoyment in the workplace.

My survey also found that those who no longer have any concern in the company, consider to stay more than 5 years. So again, this proves that regardless of the age of the people, stability, security, and comfort in the company helps to retain them. I think the bigger picture is, our ability to listen to what may become their concern and to work on them is something that we need to consider. Concern will always be there, but concern may also mean that something is not right in the company. For example, when there is a concern about the boss, there may be something which is indeed wrong in the company’s leadership culture. Another case is when there is a complaint of a too competitive culture, this means that we may have put wrong metrics within the employees that make them "kill" each other.

What To Do

So after knowing this fact, what should we do? We can keep complaining about the new workforces but then again it won't change anything, or we can adapt the company to have a win-win solution in order to make both the employees and company grow. So in my mind, here are the factors that we need:

Hygiene Factor

Based on a survey that I ever did through in-depth interviews with several new workforces, I do think that the first main contributor to manage new workforces wisely is by managing the hygiene factor wisely too. It will be crucial not only for the new workforces, but also all of the employees. By keeping the salary and career path competitive and friendly hierarchy culture and working environment, I think it will help the company to manage the satisfaction and engagement of the employees which will lead to better productivity as well.

As you can see, the new workforces have more interests than just high paid salaries, such as vacations or facilities. To help the company have a better compensation & benefit, customization based on the employees’ wants may somehow become an advantage. For example, maybe some employees will prefer to have more extra paid leave days rather than free lunch at the office because they want to go on vacations. Others may not care because they love the work so much, so they want better allowances.

When we talk about the environment, this is something that the company needs to manage. I think the leadership culture is something that a company needs to consider because based on a survey that I launched, the number one issue on why the new workforces leave the companies is their bosses. Whether you like it or not, it has become one of the most contributing factors throughout all generations. "Bad bosses" create a stressful toxic environment for the employees. The working environment itself also needs to be defined. For a company, high level of internal competition may lead to higher turnover as well.

So if the leaders complain that millennials sometimes are too straightforward, then is it something necessary? If yes, then we need to create a culture of a healthy candor. On the other hand, if compliance is the number one rule in your company (for example you work in a bank), of course this is something that needs to be taught on "why" compliance is something really necessary. There will be another article to explain how to create a new culture, but my point is, culture may be a critical point to make people feel comfortable working. If someone doesn't fit with the culture then why we need to retain them.

Company Revolution

This sounds simple, one rule in the VUCA world that nothing will stay forever. You may think that the clothing industry will never change, where people will go to the mall and buy clothes. However, today is different. There will be a constant challenge that every sector must face in order to survive and continue to grow.

So why don't we use this challenge to also manage our new workforces better? As we understand, good innovation comes from the need of the customers. So there is no silver bullet answer to what kind of product will succeed in the market. Creating a bottom-up approach may help the company under one condition. Those who come with initiatives are those who have the skills and knowledge in the industry.

I do think the Management Trainee/ other type of Development Program is something that still becomes the answer to make the new workforces ready for the future challenges. One thing that is important is that, it's not just a program that introduces the knowledge on how the company operates in all divisions, but also the focus to build the necessary skills to anticipate the future. One more thing that I also suggest is to really assign mentors for these new workforces because as I said earlier, "culture shock" may be something that they experience and work ethic may be a thing that someone just doesn’t have, so it needs to be taught in a softer way.

One thing that I also learn from the Business Model Canvas is that, the customers play a very important key role in the survival of the company. Well basically it is a supply and demand principle. Designing a product that answers customers’ challenges and demands should be a priority for a company. 5 years from now will be dominated by the millennials and gen Z. So it is actually an advantage if we involve the new workforces in the company, because they may represent the new segment of our customers.

Conclusion

So I think, the clashes and issues among millennials, new workforces, and the older generation are just another generation-gap problem that we will always encounter for decades to come. No matter what generation enters the marketplace, companies must help them to adapt to the company culture so they can give their best contributions. As a company, we can manage our new workforces better by creating better regulations to maximize the hygiene factor and also to adapt the company strategy to answer today’s challenges while involving the employees. I think we must have a collaborative mindset for this situation. If we keep thinking that the new workforces are just a bunch idealists with bad attitude and the older generations are dictators, then we can't have a maximum performance of the company. It sounds simple but it is the fact that personal ego is mainly the source of the problems for intergenerational collaboration. Hope 2020 will me a more collaborative year

Refferences:

Deloitte. (2019). The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey: Societal discord and technological transformation create a “generation disrupted”

Deloitte. (2019). The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey: Millennials disappointed in business, unprepared for Industry 4.0

KPMG. (2017). Meet The Millennials

Subramanian, Kalpathy. (2017). The Generation Gap and Employee Relationship. Volume 7. Pages 59 -67.

Edited by: Ivonny