Master Achievement

In today’s workforce, there has never been more differences between persons from different generations.  The most common difference tends to be how one perceives and adapts to the technological advances within the workplace.  The quest for productivity has changed manual processes to technological-driven processes at a rapid pace.  However, have you thought about how these generational differences affect how employees are motivated?

 

The first thought of what motivates today’s workforce is money.  Yet, numerous surveys have found that money is not the primary motivator for all generations.  Generation X is most likely to be motivated by compensation while both Generation Y and Boomers rank other rewards higher than money. 

 

Here’s a simple listing of what motivates each generation: 

 

Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) - want flexibility and autonomy in their jobs

Generation X (born between 1965 to 1978) - want high pay and advancement opportunities

Generation Y (born between 1979 and 1994) - want new experiences and challenges in their jobs

This creates a situation with multiple challenges when you attempt to motivate all types of generations within one company or organization.  When you include the skill mix in this equation, it becomes even more challenging.  In fact, the language or slang spoken by each generation in itself creates issues.  Here is a list of ideals to consider when confronted with motivating today’s workforce.

 

One size doesn’t fit all.  If this is not apparent yet, flexibility must be dealt with in the workforce.  You can’t use the same motivators for all three generation types.  Therefore, you must create opportunities for employees to select their rewards.  For example, job flexibility is a reward for Boomers but it is also of interest for females with children.  Be open to how you reward your employees and allow for their choice in the matter.  Generation Y are most at ease with diversity so they can meld a diverse team into an effective task force by bridging the gap between cultures.

 

Cross-pollination will grow leaders.  Here you want to take advantage of the generation differences to the betterment of the team.  For example, Generation Y can be utilized to help your senior managers to learn social media such as Facebook, Twitter and other social languages.  This can also help the senior manager to learn about the consumer preferences of younger generations.  In return, Generation Y will learn how senior managers make decisions and how they have progressed throughout their careers.  Why do these two generations tend to get along so well?  Maybe because Generation Y is the children of Boomers so this relationship is more like a parent-child relationship.

 

Create opportunities for employees to give back.  Both the Boomers and Generation Y have a strong interest in giving back to society.  A boomer has an advanced skill set that can help entrepreneurs in impoverished locations while the Generation Y group can head up your green movement.  The important motivator is creating different types of opportunities to give back.  You may want to consider allocating reward units to those employees who give back as a way for the overall organization to increase its community efforts. 

 

Always reward ambition across all generations.  Regardless of generation, it is ambition that creates the go-getters.  These are the current and future leaders of your organisation that will stand up for getting a difficult job completed.  A workplace without ambition is really just temporary as other companies will move to the forefront through innovation over time.  It is important to reward and recognize these employees for what they accomplish within a team environment as well as being great individuals. 

 

As you have learned, the real workplace motivators are flexibility in job characteristics, challenging and new experiences, the ability to make a difference by giving back and getting recognized and rewarded for your accomplishments.  When you add these motivators to a competitive compensation package, you will have a workforce capable of facing any challenge or crisis in today’s economy.