Nipun's mobile played a cymbal tone indicating that someone had just sent him a message on the recognition platform their company uses.
Ashish, a senior project manager managing large deals had appreciated him. "Hey @Nipun, cracking job on swinging that last deal. Your insights on pulling data through API's really helped.
Nipun, 36 years old, is the CEO and Ashish, 26 years old, was hired 3 months back.
This is just one of the several changes happening in companies across the country.
As a generational change sweeps the workforce with Gen-X moving into senior management positions and Millennials poised to become the largest segment, there is a profound change happening to the organizations themselves.
Generational theory itself stands on two main pillars. The first pillar is the Socialization Hypothesis, which states that one's world view is cemented as a result of experiences in the formative years and stays largely stable throughout one's life. The second pillar is the Social Constructivist Hypothesis that reality and human development depends on social interactions of groups and individuals.
The consequence of a generational shift in companies is evident in the flattening of hierarchies and a dramatic change in the focus on personal interests. In companies that have been around for a while, it's a paradigm shift. For new age companies it's the de-facto culture. Either way, the trend is clear. As Ashok Shah and G. RossKelly write in their book - the 21st century is witnessing the emergence of the 'Me' enterprise.
HR and senior management of companies are faced with the constant challenge of attracting and retaining top talent. As any professional who is responsible for finding the right fit for a company knows, there is tremendous scarcity of talent in the sea of applicants. Since all of us act and react to situations based on our 'worldviews', the era one is born is also dictates the response to organizational culture. The current dominant generations in the workplace are comfortable with technology - in fact technology has entered into every part of one's life at work. They don't place much importance in designations and hierarchies. They demand transparency in the way companies work and they want leaders to 'walk the talk'.
Employee engagement and motivation once upon a time was considered the realm of HR, which meant that strategies were formulated for the entire organization - bit of a one size fits all approach. Over a period of time, this was decentralized and in companies that understood the challenges of a centralized approach, people managers were empowered to publicly recognize and reward their team members. Since these managers were in touch with the daily challenges of the employees, the recognition was more relevant and better received. While the decentralization of recognition and rewards to managers was a step forward, it wasn't still quite enough. Enter peer recognition. What matters most to the current generation is appreciation from their peers as opposed to their superiors.
In today's world, everything is 'personalized' - websites track your behaviour and customize their offers, the content that you see and even the ads you see when you go to another site. Company phones and laptops are being replaced with a BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) strategy. Employee engagement too has to keep pace. It's not about just automating the process and handing out a few gift vouchers, the leadership has to have a pulse on 'what makes people tick' and then leverage technology to enable those interventions seamlessly.
When implementing an engagement strategy for a generation that is used to Google, Amazon and Facebook knowing exactly what they are looking for, handing out 'Employee of the Month' certificates in town-halls doesn't quite impress anyone. The times are changing and HR strategies too have to follow suit - in Jack Welch's style - take it by the scruff of the neck and lead it forward!
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fading
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
"The Times They Are A-Changing", Bob Dylan
Guest Author
Prashant is co-founder of Kwench. Prashant heads marketing, branding and is functionally responsible for client and customer service. Prashant has 8 years of experience in marketing, customer relationship management, product management and project management. He has worked with Tata Consultancy Services for nearly 7 years leading large accounts in the Telecom vertical. He has worked for a year in the marketing strategy team of one of India's largest Telecom player. Prashant is a B.E. (Electronics) and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.
