Are Generational Categories Meaningful Distinctions for Workforce Management? (2020) / Chapter Skim
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6 Workforce Management in a New Era
6 Workforce Management in a New Era
Pages 87-114
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From page 87... ...
As a result, many employers today face the challenge of effectively maintaining and managing a diverse workforce, including employees of a wide range of ages, even as the nature of work is also changing. Faced with sometimes rapid changes in the job market, discontinuities in the rates of new hires and retirements, and evolving technologies that require new skills and communication approaches, employers are seeking ways to capitalize on the knowledge and experiences of a more diverse and aging workforce while responding to a new set of employee expectations around the conditions of work, including job flexibility, work–life balance, and 87
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From page 88... ...
As discussed previously, empirical support is lacking for meaningful generational differences in work-related attitudes and behaviors. The most sophisticated research to date examining changes in work values over time in the United States attributes these changes more to evolving work contexts and aging processes than to differences among generations (e.g., Kalleberg and Marsden, 2019)
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From page 89... ...
EXAMPLES OF WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES In undertaking this study, the committee sought to appreciate existing workforce challenges, particularly those that might be driving the need to understand generational differences. In so doing, we heard from personnel and readiness staff from the military, human resources consultants, and corporate speakers, and we reviewed numerous public documents on workforce issues.
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From page 90... ...
Headlines and quotes from recruiting command personnel draw attention to efforts to appeal to members of "generation Z"; however, adjustments to recruitment strategies have less to do with different work values of young adults than with new, preferred avenues of communication. The military is targeting growing numbers of youth who lack family members with prior military service able to share information about military jobs, and is trying to capitalize on new communication platforms (Fadel and Morris, 2019; Myers, 2018)
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From page 91... ...
In recent years, however, the military also has developed a number of leave options, including family leave and sabbaticals, to allow its personnel to manage personal responsibilities and thereby reduce attrition. Military service places significant demands on military personnel, including extended periods of time away from family (e.g., Segal, 1986)
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From page 92... ...
, Congress included authorization for the military to offer up to 12 weeks of leave for women who give birth, up to 6 weeks for individuals who are the primary caregiver following adoption, and up to 21 days for a secondary caregiver following either childbirth or adoption.2 The military services also have established programs that allow service members to take sabbaticals, or extended leaves of absence from active duty service, to pursue personal or professional goals (e.g., attain a college degree) or to meet personal-life needs (e.g., raise a family)
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From page 93... ...
5 Congress authorized up to 20 officers and up to 20 enlisted members from each military service to enter CIPP each year. Congress also required that participants "have completed their initial active duty service agreement and are not currently receiving a critical skills retention bonus" and specified that for each month on sabbatical, the member owes 2 months of service upon return (GAO, 2015, p.
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From page 94... ...
. The industry also faces challenges around integrating new technologies into its operations and building a diverse workforce (Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA]
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From page 95... ...
, it is interesting to reflect on what motivates such studies -- the perception that understanding these differences is key to addressing issues of turnover, retention, management, leadership, job satisfaction, and occupational stressors. Continuity in the nursing workforce and a balance in the numbers of experienced nurses and incoming professionals are important factors in enabling organizations to maintain the expertise required to provide specialized clinical and care management services.
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From page 96... ...
Specifically, the growth in minority teachers in the United States was three times greater 8 Data describing the characteristics of the early childhood education workforce are limited and somewhat problematic compared with data on K–12 teachers (Workgroup on the Early Childhood Workforce and Professional Development, 2016)
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From page 97... ...
Employers in the industry may once again turn to understanding the next generation of young workers. Attention to generational groups in the hospitality industry has been offered as a potential way to understand, recruit, and retain employees (American Hotel and Lodging Association, 2016)
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From page 98... ...
This section examines these management opportunities and some of the recent research with regard to capitalizing on a diverse workforce and increasing attention to recruitment strategies, professional development, and flexible work arrangements. Diverse Workforce Although it is difficult to directly attribute specific organizational benefits, including productivity and profitability, to a diverse workforce alone, having a diverse workforce offers obvious advantages, many of which likely do lead to productivity and profitability.
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From page 99... ...
, for example, found that a culture supportive of age diversity and fair implementation of employee benefits was a key factor in improving organizational performance and reducing reported intentions to quit. While useful in many respects, a diverse workforce can also pose management challenges.
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From page 100... ...
Consequently, a diverse workforce highlights the need for an organization to attend to an array of benefits, training, and worker accommodations that are adaptable for a number of individual circumstances in an organization's work environments. Recruitment Strategies The goal of personnel recruitment is to identify candidates whose preferences, skills, and abilities match the needs of the organization and the specific requirements of the job to be filled.
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From page 101... ...
Further, members of these two groups may also differ in multiple ways. Such factors as race/ethnicity and gender, as well as other demographic characteristics, geographic location, education level and college major, and work experiences, can be significant in determining what attracts different people to specific jobs.
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From page 102... ...
The organization not only gains from employee development and the new and enhanced skills it provides to advance business objectives, but also can leverage professional development programs to ensure the transfer of institutional knowledge as its workforce evolves. In addition, development opportunities are often desirable to workers and therefore facilitate recruitment and retention.
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From page 103... ...
Advances in technology and changes in the nature of job tasks have expanded the options for flexibility in work schedules, and research suggests that organizations are employing a range of strategies for creating flexible schedules (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2014)
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From page 104... ...
When describing workforce challenges, the literature has often used generations as a proxy for different age groups. This section summarizes the legal constraints on workforce management and explains how generation-based decisions could be interpreted as age discrimination in light of existing employment laws.
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From page 105... ...
. Congress considered including age in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark employment law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, but opted to create a separate law instead.
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From page 106... ...
. Unlike a disparate treatment violation, a disparate impact violation is based on the effect on the employee (or applicant)
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From page 107... ...
There is disagreement as to whether disparate impact claims can be brought by applicants as well as employees under the ADEA. Other provisions of the ADEA explicitly refer to "applicants," whereas the plain language of the disparate impact provision in the law refers only to "employees"; it prohibits an employer from "limit[ing]
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From page 108... ...
. Hostile work environment claims have long been available under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on
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From page 109... ...
The EEOC has clarified its interpretation of when age-based harassment violates the ADEA, stating that harassment can include offensive or derogatory remarks about a person's age, and that harassment is illegal when "it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision."14 Like harassment under Title VII, the hostile work environment need not be created directly by the employer; harassment by supervisors, coworkers, and even customers may lead to a violation of the ADEA. State Laws While the ADEA is rather narrow -- applying only to employees over 40, and only to discrimination against older in favor of younger workers -- a number of state laws take a broader view of age discrimination.
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From page 110... ...
Employment decisions based on stereotypes about generations -- such as refusing to put workers of a certain generation in a specific job position -- could be particularly vulnerable to ADEA claims because the congressional intent behind the ADEA was to combat these types of pervasive stereotypes and stigmatization of older workers. Workplace harassment based on age or generational stereotypes could also be fertile ground for an ADEA claim; for example, a hostile work environment created through frequent comments, jokes, and insults about workers in a particular generation could violate the ADEA.
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From page 111... ...
Changes and developments in recruitment strategies and management policies and practices should align with an organization's values, mission, and goals and the needs of its employees. Tailoring management policies and employment practices to a specific group defined by some personal characteristic, such as generation, is unlikely to meet the needs of all members of that group and may exclude others unfairly.
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From page 112... ...
The committee's review of the generational literature and supplemental study of the changing nature of work uncovered several workforce challenges that we believe broadly affect most workplaces and organizations in the United States. These include recent challenges with the recruitment and retention of workers; increasing diversity in the labor force; rising demand for better work–life balance across all ages of workers; and the need to reexamine training and professional development in light of changing employer–employee relationships, the incorporation of new technologies, and greater proportions of team-based approaches to work.
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From page 113... ...
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT IN A NEW ERA 113 will be consistent with the organization's mission, employees, customer base, and job requirements and will be flexible enough to adjust to different worker needs and work contexts as they change.
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