Part 1: Generation Evolutional Fit

GENERATION EVOLUTIONAL FIT

Part 1

With Census Bureau data, Pew Research had determined that the Millennial generation, ages 18-34 in 2015, had become the majority workforce by mid-2015.  First generation controlled organizations and companies built their success on conducting business with an understanding of their own generations motivations and tendencies.  Technology evolved so rapidly over the past 20 years during the youth of the Millennial generation that the generation was arguably wedged between ways of the past and present.  Companies that don’t contemplate these generational differences and curtail their modes of operations are missing opportunities to cohabitate and benefit from the Millennial generation as a workforce and customer pool. 

This is a multi-stage mini check your Generation Evolutional Fit.

1)      Flexibility in Operations meets Employee Satisfaction

The Millennial Generation grew up in a system where society and high school guidance counselors pushed college at all costs.  Millennials were taught that the path to a good life is through college and in offices and not through skilled trades.  Where studies support this mantra via earnings potential created by a college degree, there is a potential suppression of environmental fit for many Millennials fitting into the office and screen mold.  Combine this with the plague of limited jobs effecting this generation and companies will be challenged with motivation and performance. 

Rather it is being outdoors some of the time, fixing or creating something with one’s hands, or spatially interacting with the end product versus applying theoretical components, companies should understand where their flexibility in operations can broaden a work environment and the benefits that can reap.  Over a span of 225 academic studies, researchers Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener performed a meta-analysis that found life satisfaction and successful business outcomes have a considerable directional causality (https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence).  

Look for operational flexibility to work outside of normal business hours, field versus office time, and cross training.  Create a program of it with quantifiable metrics and allow it to be an option for employees.  Think of the possibilities in recruiting, retention, and successful business outcomes.  If flexibility is not possible, then ensure your hiring process screens for your absolutes and that you are not fitting square pegs into round holes.

Anchor, Shawn. Positive Intelligence. Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012. 22 March 2016. <https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence>

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