Dealing with 5 working generations at one time

Dealing with 5 working generations at one time

LAST WEEK, I interviewed Tricia McLaurin, a subject-matter expert and human resources consultant with Paychex.

He specialty, generational characteristics in hiring and managing employees, proved to be enlightening.

This is an extract from that interview, highlighting both interesting and useful information on the two youngest generations: the Digital Natives and the Millennials.

As the older generations retire from the workforce, the younger generations fill those gaps and move up and expand their presence throughout the employment continuum.

According to McLaurin, this is the first time in recorded history that we have five working generations. As with anything new, there is a learning curve.

To make the workplace more successful, it's necessary to incorporate the distinctly different strengths of each generation. Management must identify how they can help and where each generation's strengths and weaknesses are. Then managers must provide assistance and support in areas of concern.

The five distinct generations working today are:

1. The Silent Traditionalists -- 70 years and older

2. The Baby Boomers -- 51-69

3. The Generation X'ers -- 35-50

4. The Millennials -- 16-35

5. The Digital Natives -- birth-15

The Digital Natives

Granted, the Digital Natives are a little young and can be found more as hobbyists seeking to be entrepreneurial or providing technological help to their parents. According to McLaurin, "This group is technologically literate and savvy but functionally illiterate. They have experience with almost every technological gadget that there is, so they give us a glimpse of what technology could look like in just a few years. They are very willing to try new things. They have never not known technology, and so they embrace all possibilities.

We've seen children starting their own businesses, coming up with ideas on how to do things if for no other reason than they want money now. So we see the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well in some youngsters. Younger CEOs, younger presidents of companies and an opportunity to say, this was non-existent so I created it and now we have it."

In dealing with this group, McLaurin advises, "Embrace some of the fundamentals that we automatically assume. Some statistics show that these Digital Natives cannot tell time unless its digital, and don't know how to make change without the use of electronics. Some of these things that were core fundamentals to us may not be to them. It's important to know that they're speaking the same language and embracing the same fundamentals as you do."

According to McLaurin, there is a vast difference in millennial technological ability. Much study has been dedicated to understanding who they are and how they operate.

"Millennials are incredibly savvy with regards to technology. However, they have not learned some of the fundamentals that we consider most important for in-person communication. They have difficulty being able to represent themselves well, if it is not through social media or a technological device."

Millennials and Digital Natives embrace the viewpoint of "Don't judge me for how long I've been here, or how loyal I've been, but judge me for the content of my work."

Millennials often look to be supervisors and managers within one year or less, while other generations may have strived for years to reach the same positions. That paradigm shift has also affected how they expect to be treated. Hot buttons such as flex days and flexible time may be what they want.

Millennials are efficient communicators as they have always made presentations. They embrace the technological advancements that have been made over the years.

They are the "What's in it for me?" group, so they are consistently looking for a better way, a better opportunity, and therefore have been cited as very innovative, because they will find a way to get it done quicker and easier, while maintaining quality.

Millennials expect rewards that are particular to them.

To get their attention, don't talk about the big picture, about how it affects the entire workplace and how everyone benefits. To get them to buy in, explain how it helps them.

Technological advancements and monetary compensation will always move them. They have an expectation to be lured with the benefits that will cause them to want to work hard and to turn-down your competitors. According to McLaurin, "Millennials like things fast, bright, exciting and energetic. They are not the ones who will sit in an eight-hour conference. They'd much rather join a conference call or Web-X than come to the boardroom and have a meeting."

Understanding these generational characteristics and applying the appropriate tools can make your workplace more successful by identifying, implementing, and embracing their differences.

Next week we will focus on the other three groups: The Silent Traditionalists, The Baby Boomers and the Gen X'ers.

LAST WEEK, I COVERED generational characteristics in hiring and managing employees, and focused on Millennials and Digital Natives (the two youngest groups). This week, I will focus on the three older groups: Silent Traditionalists, Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. This is an extract from my interview Tricia McLaurin, a human resources consultant with Paychex.

To make the workplace more successful, the distinctly different strengths of each generation must be incorporated. It is important to know how communications differ from generation to generation and, most of all, to know how the different generations would like to be heard, rewarded and appreciated.

The five distinct generations (and ages) in the workplace are:

1. The Silent Traditionalists -- 70 years and older.

2. The Baby Boomers -- 51 to 69.

3. The Generation Xers -- 35 to 50.

4. The Millennials -- 16 to 35.

5. The Digital Natives -- birth to 15.

The Silent Traditionalists

Let's start with the most mature generation, the Silent Traditionalists. According to McLaurin, "they are the penny-pinchers, focused on money, how much things cost and what is being spent. This can be attributed to being raised by parents who lived through the depression and taught them to be fiscally responsible with their spending."

Silent Traditionalists have experienced more change than ever, because of the mandates in the workplace to incorporate technology. This group embraces face-to-face communication. They like to touch, to feel an agenda or memo in their hands, as opposed to using devices as the only means of communication.

To communicate with a Silent Traditionalist, keep the human interaction.

According to McLaurin, "The Baby Boomers are considered to be the most liberal group. Although this can be positive and advantageous in certain scenarios, they're sometimes looked at as hard to reign in. They appreciate independence, and opportunity and sometimes that overwhelms productivity."

They want to be in groups. They want to embrace, get to know and tag-team. They prefer to meet in a conference room rather than to attend a conference call or webinar.

The Generation Xers are the most moody. They were the ones who first had independence and were entrepreneurial. According to McLaurin, however, "Because that great, big American Dream did not always work out as expected or as told by their parents, they're very bitter about where they find themselves in their career path and with certain aspects of their work-life balance."

They appreciate technology, digital learning options and remote campuses for classes. They want options, such as personal versus technological.

These three generations all appreciate face-to-face interpersonal communication.

Some questions and answers with McLaurin about them:

Q: Would some of the generations be better suited for certain types of positions than others?

A: Silent Traditionalists currently hold positions such as CEO, president, president emeritus in organizations that they have been with for a long time. They embrace working as long as they can before retirement. The next class of Silent Traditionalists are returning to the workforce. They're starting encore careers because they've retired from their first career choice. They are looking to remain active and supplement other income. They want to stay focused and be involved with the workplace.

Q: What might be the greatest impact we're seeing with these generations?

The Baby Boomers

A: For the Silent Traditionalists, it is their knowledge and information. They're a walking wealth of reference. They are the ones who have often been there since the company began. They help us see where we're going, because they understand where we've been.

In the age of Baby Boomers, females entering the workforce had a positive impact. They are the team players, the ones who you can give the vision to and they will run with and embrace it. They're always optimistic.

Generation Xers provide the entrepreneurial spirit. They're independent thinkers who can be trusted to take a project from start to finish with minimal supervision and get it done. They are willing to take chances, to bet on the company and on themselves. They will put in the time and invest in the bigger picture.

Q: What are some effective ways to reward each group and let them know they are appreciated?

A: Silent Traditionalists desire longevity benefits, such as security and health benefits. Acknowledge that they are doing a good job. Vacation time is viewed as a reward for their hard work.

Baby Boomers are looking for appreciation, too. Publicly acknowledge how their contributions affect the workplace. Baby Boomers make up the largest portion of the workforce (45 percent) and they want to see opportunities and equality.

Generation Xers desire monetary rewards and portable options such as gift cards, stock options and tuition reimbursement. These are forms of remuneration that they can benefit from and will also inure to the workplace. They want to work their schedule, perhaps start earlier and leave earlier. The important thing to remember is to let them choose.

From the Silent Traditionalists to the Digital Natives, the workforce is more diverse than ever. This unique situation allows you to choose the best person for the right job for your business.

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, I interviewed Scott Gonnello, who is an expert on search engine-optimization.

Scott has been a repeat guest on my nationally syndicated podcast series, Been There, Done That! with Dennis Zink, available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, score.org, Manasota.score.org and other distribution channels.

I interviewed Scott on website performance analytics / Google analytics.

Starting with the basics, there's two sides: one is the audience side, indicating who's looking, from where and when; and the other side is acquisitions, how visitors are finding the site.

On the audience side, the overview tells many things, such as how many people came to the site, how long they stayed, how many pages they viewed and the bounce rate. This provides information that can help discern trends and patterns.

The acquisition side tells you where visitors are coming from, how they're finding the site through the search engines, referrals, and other websites.

A NEW PARTNERSHIP between State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and Manasota SCORE offers local businesses that could benefit from exporting their products an opportunity for help to research and plan to begin selling their products abroad.

The free program will be under the guidance of SCF adjunct instructor and SCORE mentor Charles Steilen.

To qualify, businesses must be in the Sarasota-Bradenton area, have 10 or more employees, have been in business for at least three years and be first-time exporters.

The application deadline is July 15. The program will launch at the beginning of the Fall 2015 semester, on Aug. 18.

This program was initiated by Manasota SCORE, in cooperation with Amy Santos, SCF department chairwoman of business/technology. Steilen, who has extensive experience in international marketing, will guide participating SCF students, who will be enrolled in undergraduate programs in international business and trade and in technology management.

Participating companies will collaborate with students to help select a product and a targeted market and to develop an export strategy and action plan, taking into account the challenges and estimated cost of executing the strategy.

Steilen said he is excited about providing students with real-life, engaging educational experiences and about helping companies boost sales by entering new markets.

"We need to get people excited about exporting," Steilen said. "Only 1.5 percent of all U.S. companies have ever exported and, of those, 58 percent export to only one foreign market, typically Canada or Mexico."

He is concerned that only 10 percent of the U.S. GDP is driven by exports, whereas the U.K. has 27 percent; Canada, 27 percent and Germany, 40 percent.

"Although we tend to blame the other side for taking jobs away from us, we cannot be defined as an export-driven country, given these figures," he said. Ninety-five percent of the world's customers live outside the U.S.

Steilen hears many excuses for not exporting and wants people to overcome these defense mechanisms. The comments he frequently hears are: "The U.S. is such a big market that I need to first expand to other parts of the states," and "I don't know if I can supply additional markets, " and "I know nothing about foreign markets."

He also said he feels it is critical to get young people involved in this process now, so when they graduate they can directly influence employers down the road.

Steilen, who now lives in Sarasota, has been a marketing professor for 45 years and spent 30 years in Hong Kong as a marketing consultant and management trainer. He directed the Asia Pacific Institute of Business at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, assisting Asian organizations and American companies with import activities. He also served as consultant for the International Trade Development Department of the Hong Kong government.

I am especially pleased and proud about this program, as I know I played a part in making something worthwhile happen in our local business community.

My Jan. 26 column entitled "Florida needs strategy to encourage exports" was followed within days by an Enterprise Florida news release, "Florida SBDC Network, Enterprise Florida Partner to Help State Businesses Expand Overseas."

As my friend Sara Hand, founder of Spark Growth and the Station 2 Business Innovation Center in Bradenton, says, "Dennis gets stuff done."

I worked closely with Santos and Steilen to help develop this program. My hope is that local businesses will get stuff done to expand our region's export footprint.

Companies that are interested in the SCF program should contact Santos by calling 752-5511 or emailing her at santosa@scf.edu in time to complete the application process before the July 15 deadline.

Participating companies must designate one employee who will hold an introductory meeting with the student and instructor, serve as the liaison between the student and the company and attend the student's final presentation at the end of the course.

IF YOU WANT TO START A business, it's a good idea to have a checklist to guide you.

Just as pilots don't leave the ground without their checklist, neither should you, lest you risk an early demise.

There is no guarantee that a checklist, in and of itself, will make your business successful. But your chances are greatly enhanced with a comprehensive list.

Here are some of the questions you should ask and the answers you should include on your checklist.

Your business concept

What is your business idea and does it make sense in this market? Does the business product or service exist in this market or other markets, and is it viable? If it isn't something new, how many competitors will you have?

If you are not sure, seek help from mentors who can help you determine if your business concept makes sense.

Are you familiar with the industry? Is there a trade association for this industry?

Have you figured out how many units or services you have to sell to break-even and make a profit? Have you projected how long it will take you to get there?

Do you know what your cost structure (direct and indirect costs) will be? Do you have the ability to go without pay for an extended period of time? Is your confidence level for success so high that you are willing to quit the paying job you have?

Do you have or can you get the resources to bring your concept to fruition?

This is a two part question: Do you have the financial resources available, both money and credit. Do you have, or can you assemble the talent needed? Will you have to share your equity with others?

Sales and marketing costs

Is your sales strategy based on your website? Do you have sales people who can sell? Have you explored how much you will have to pay to attract and retain competent sales people? Have you separated start-up, one-time, non-recurring costs from repeating costs?

Have you selected an attorney, an accountant, and a banker and budgeted for start-up and on-going professional fees?

Do you need a physical place to conduct business? Have you estimated administrative costs you will likely encounter as your business grows? Have you budgeted for payroll, taxes, insurance, rent, utilities, etc? Will you have to train employees?

Will the business require computers, point-of-sale systems, special software or other technology?

This may be the most important consideration. Do you have the drive to be a successful entrepreneur? Have you done anything like this before? Are you persistent, creative, goal oriented?

In creating your start-up checklist, do as much as possible in the following areas. Complete projections as indicated for 3 to 5 years. Most people won't do this, so the more you do, the better your chances for success.

Profit and loss -- monthly year one; quarterly years two and three; annually years four and five.

Balance sheet -- monthly year one; quarterly years two and three; annually years four and five.

Statement of cash flows -- same frequency as above.

Source and application of funds -- same frequency.

Know your break-even point.

Conduct a comprehensive competitive analysis.

Develop market-share projections.

Create collateral materials.

Create a working prototype as applicable.

Formulate the strategies to be deployed.