Ingram's April 2024

according to the Pew Research Center. This year, the youngest of the Boomers hit 60 years old, meaning the last of them reaches full retirement age in 2031. With their looming exodus, busi nesses are faced with unique challeng es—and opportunities that won’t pres ent themselves for another generation. If a company hasn’t already begun to address issues of knowledge transfer, now’s the time, say professionals in organizational development. It’s vital that the aggregated knowledge of that generation be retained and applied quickly to meet strategic, tactical and operational goals. But how? Your process, experts say, should start with some market segmenta tion: Not every greybeard on your team holds the same store of know how. Identify the key players, priori tize them by the estimated value they can help you retain, and get your tools in place to make it happen: Off–the shelf software, flow charts you can create in-house, digital and physical libraries, etc. For larger companies with the HR budget, much of that heavy lifting is done. At the mid-size and small-busi ness levels, day-to-day demands to keep a business going routinely pre vent leaders from taking the time to safeguard their corporate futures. Then you need to measure and evaluate the material itself: Opera tions manuals from the old Compaq desktops probably aren’t of much value, but what do you really know about the data contained in the files on those hard drives? You might even consider producing some how-to vid eos featuring your key leadership and operations staff, something that can live on long after they’re gone. Once you’ve established the value proposition of your materials or the creation of new content, you need to address accessibility to ensure that it’s getting into the hands of the right younger workers. So there: You’ve assessed the book- ends of your workforce. There’s still the matter of managing Gen X em ployees, Millennials and Zoomers to produce a cohesive team. Gen X, already asserting its place

at the highest levels of many organi zations, grew up labeled as The Latch key Generation, with higher numbers of children hailing from homes where both parents worked. As a result, they tend to demon strate a stronger brand of indepen dence. In learning how to look out for No. 1 as kids, they have a repu tation for doing the same at work, which means a heightened sensitivity to what they see as matters of fair ness—that can involve compensation, advancement opportunities, training, and development. But they want to chart their own course. That’s where potential conflicts emerge with younger generations. Millennials broke the mold by em bracing a more collaborative mindset, but Zoomers have taken that to anoth er level altogether. Like Millennials, Zoomers are in fused with a desire to wring some thing more meaningful from their work than just a paycheck. Loyal ty? It’s a two-way street, so if you’re not showing commitment with your workplace design—not just salary and benefits, but philanthropic mission and work-life balance—they could be gone soon. And they’ll likely be gone in any case. By next year, Gen Z is project ed to account for one-third of the workforce, but demographers say this cohort will switch careers—not jobs, but careers—three times during their working years. For employers, it’s important to note that these are people who grew up during the financial crisis of 2008, the ensuing Great Recession and now are being whiplashed by inflation and enormous increase in housing costs. Only 41 percent, according to a McK insey study, expect to be able to afford a home during their lifetimes. Think about what that implies for employee retention: Renting ties you to a physical place on a yearly lease-

renewal basis. Homeownership, by contrast, can be an anchor that keeps talent not just in your office but in your community. And if you’ve read about how Zoomers view the issue of workplace inclusivity but haven’t figured out why they see things differently, keep this in mind: This is the most ethni cally and racially diverse generation the nation has ever seen. On one lev el, we might congratulate ourselves on how far we’ve come as a nation to reach that point, but the flip side for Gen Z is a higher value placed on be ing part of a diverse workforce. One in four of them is Hispanic, a major shift over the past generation. The proportions of black workers (14 percent), Asian (6 percent), and mul tiracial workers (5 percent) are clos er to recent census norms, but the collective interest in DEI program ming—and provable outcomes that flow from it—are top of mind here. Surveys show that fully 86 percent of job seekers in that cohort say they would be part of an employee resource group committee or otherwise be part of their employer’s DEI programs. Addressing all of the issues present ed by this kind of intellectual, emo tional, educational, and demographic diversity, HR coaches generally agree that it all comes back to communica tion. If your staff members know the specifics of compensation strategies, benefits design, workplace dynam ics (remote/in-office/hybrid), paid time off, philanthropic matches, re tirement planning, EAP and more, you’re ahead of the game. It’s vital, say experts in organiza tional development, that every em ployee knows where he or she fits into the operation, how they contribute to its success, and how that success translates into their own lives. When employees don’t know any of that, don’t expect them to be part of your team for the long haul.

After the Baby Boomers, Generation X brought to the work- place a greater collective sense of independence. Millen nials broke the mold by embracing a more collaborative mindset, but Zoomers have taken that to another level.

67

I ngr am ’ s

Kansas City’s Business Media

April 2024