Recognition and the Generational Divide

Author(s): Green, Gordon T

Today's workforce is a mix of baby and post-boomers (40s to 60s) and the generation X/Y group (a.k.a. gamers) who are under 40. Throughout history, there have always been the older and younger groups, but never in corporate history have their styles and appetites been so clearly separate.

Today, generational conflicts have the potential to directly impact the bottom line. It is essential for companies to have an accurate understanding of the differences between these two groups so they can devise the necessary strategies in order to both maximize engagement levers and encourage behavioral alignment to organization values.

For older generations, tenure and long-term loyalty is valued because it represents historical investment into the life of the corporation. The boomers grew up learning that "history building" is the most important attribute worthy of recognition and reward. Quite simply, you get paid for doing your job, doing it well and contributing to the company by being one of the sum of its parts.

The older gamers have learned to focus on personal success and individual achievements. They're extremely competitive, yet process-oriented. They want recognition and rewards that are based on measurable performance and solid results within a clearly defined set of rules.

But the younger gamers live at the speed of light. With limited history, they live their present reality in the future tense similar to the stock market predictions in future values. Instead of using the motto, "Seize the day," they could use, "Seize tomorrow today."

From a boomer perspective, the work habits, attitudes and self-assurance of gamers can often be misinterpreted as laziness, lack of motivation and overconfidence. But there is so much more to it than that. They are fundamentally different in the very way they are wired on the inside. They are not just different in their thinking and perspectives, but different in their very essence of thought - the way they conceive their thoughts, perspectives and ideas. Gamers know what they want and how to get it. And they want it now. They want instant gratification, instant success and instant reward.

For gamers, immediate and continuous recognition is a critical part of the workday and the employer's key for motivation. Not surprising since they've grown up on a steady diet of Nintendo, Playstation and X-Box, where every "bleep-bleep" sound serves as reinforcement. Given that perspective, it is important to understand the huge disconnect and their glazed-over looks when we point to our gold watches and tell them, "Hey, just wait until you reach 25 years of service, then you'll get one of these babies!"

Pyramid Strategy

A successful recognition and reward strategy needs to support key motivational levers and drive the behaviors that will yield the desired results for all employees. A useful strategy is the recognition pyramid. Starting at the bottom, provide low-level, instant recognition and rewards to many people in the organization. Elevate your pyramid strategy to encourage certain behaviors and attitudes that are aligned with corporate values. Then appropriately recognize and reward the work activities that support the business strategies.

Ideally, if your corporate values and strategies are effective, the proper employee behaviors and activities will naturally lead to the accomplishment of the achievements and results of your business objectives. Be sure to recognize, reward and celebrate all achievements, with increasing recognition for results that exceed expectations. Finally, at the top of the recognition pyramid, don't neglect to highlight and celebrate the best of the best.

There are many employee satisfaction surveys in the marketplace that list the top things that keep employees satisfied in their workplace. Surprisingly, recent surveys have shown that these generational groups aren't so different in their key workplace satisfiers and dissatisfiers. It seems that Abraham Maslowe and his hierarchy of needs are still universal and cross generational when it comes to packaging a total rewards strategy.

Consistently, there are seven universal levers in all employee satisfaction surveys that emerge as key motivators:

* Corporate Identity. Employees want to feel a sense of belonging to a good organization. It is important to be perceived as a good corporate citizen and a benevolent employer in order to be an employer of choice.

* Communication. Employees want to have a clear understanding as to how their jobs fit into the company's success and how their efforts contribute on an ongoing basis. Performance feedback needs to be consistent and frequent.

* Training and Career Development. Workers aren't prepared to stay in the same job forever. They want to be given the opportunity to learn, grow and develop new skills. They enjoy interactivity and multitasking.

* Work-Life Balance. The older generations "worked to live." Boomers "live to work." Gamers don't do either. Boomers have stretched themselves to the limit. In true boomer style, they are wearing out and are consequently crying out in need of more work- life effectiveness. On the other hand, gamers expect harmonization in their life and work. They want a whole approach, not just balance. Work needs to fit into their life plans. They want to be engaged and treated as a whole person, not just used as an employee or worker for a task.

* Friendship. Although it's not seemingly a part of the corporate business plan, having enjoyable relationships with co-workers and being part of a team is a strong satisfier or dissatisfier when it comes to employee retention. "Having fun" is rapidly becoming a key strategy.

* Managerial Relationship. It's often said that "people don't leave companies, they leave managers." Having a good working partnership with the direct manager is probably the most critical retention lever. Gamers reveal that they are far more likely to develop loyalty to a manager than to the organization.

* Rewards and Recognition. People want to know that they are valued, appreciated and acknowledged. They want to receive recognition instantly and frequently, and they want to be rewarded and compensated accordingly.

HR professionals have the daunting task of populating the ever- changing corporate landscape with talented, competent employees - recruiting from a rapidly diminishing workforce pool, while at the same time trying to retain the valuable human capital already acquired and trained. But the HR challenge doesn't stop there. Pressure for greater employee performance and workplace efficiencies demands an increasingly motivated and engaged workforce. Whether through e-mail campaigns, certificates or a choice of practical or luxury-brand gifts, properly executed, your recognition strategy can become a powerful, effective and relatively low-cost tool that can build employee culture and make the company a superior strategy-executing competitor.

The views expressed in the Viewpoint column are solely those of the author and do not represent an official position of WorldatWork. If you would like to respond to this column or other articles in workspan, please e-mail your comments to workspan@worldatwork.org. Correspondence may appear as Letters to the Editor in upcoming issues of workspan.

By Gordon T. Green

RIDEAU RECOGNITION SOLUTIONS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gordon T. Green is executive vice president for Rideau Recognition Solutions and has been consulting with companies on recognition and reward strategy for more than 20 years. He can be reached at gordgreen@rideau.com.

© Copyright WorldatWork Nov 2005
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