multi generational engagement angela wilke

9 February 2016

Multi-Generational

Engagement Angela Wilke

Executive General Manager

Operations & Change

28 February 2017

Engaging the multi-generational workforce

• Which HR strategies drive productivity and culture whilst addressing

differences in career needs, values and expectations?

• What style of leadership is required to support the growth and

development of different workforce segments?

• How can you motivate and reward with discretion, despite operating

within a consistent performance review framework?

Common threads

Yes, each generation is different, but ... regardless of age, we all want

the same things:

• Good relationship with line manager

• Personal growth, professional development

• Work-life balance

• Yes, I’m making a difference

• Meaningful work

• Training and skills development

Benefits of all-generation engagement

Heightened inclusiveness, respect, and productivity resulting in:

• Increased performance

• Less age-based discrimination

• Less “brain drain”

• Better recruitment practices

• Retention of critical talent

Why engagement is important

Engagement – measure of corporate health, key window into potential

for future issues and employees’ support for change.

Engagement is essential because:-

• Intense competition for talented Millennials

• Organisations’ need for technological and other specialised skills

• Candidates now more ‘brand aware’ – they know and care if an

organisation is a great place to work

Engagement is more than job satisfaction

Contentment is fine, but can lead to complacency.

High engagement looks like:

• innovation and creativity

• personal responsibility

• authentic desire for company and team to succeed

• an emotional bond to organisation

• high impact, go-to people, willing to go extra mile.

Over the next 10 years, the QLD public sector will see disruptive changes in

relation to:

Environment

People

Customers

QLD Treasury - a changing employment context

Workforce generation categories – quick recap

• Matures – 72 and older, born pre-1946

• Baby Boomer – 53 to 71 years old, born 1946 to 1964

• Gen X – 37 to 52 years old, born 1965 to 1980

• Millennial/Gen Y – 17 to 37, born 1981 to 2000

What does QLD Treasury look like?

29.4%

46.0%

24.5%

Generational Distribution (n=1928)

Millennials

Gen X

Baby Boomers

Matures

Matures represent only 0.16% of workforce

What does QLD Treasury look like?

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

0-4 Yrs 5-9 Yrs 10-14 Yrs 15-19 Yrs 20-24 Yrs 25-29 Yrs 30-39 Yrs 40+ Yrs

Generations by public service tenure

Millennials

Gen X

Baby Boomers

Matures

What does QLD Treasury look like?

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

F M

Generations by gender

Millennials

Gen X

Baby Boomers

Matures

What does QLD Treasury look like?

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Generations by classification

Millennials

Gen X

Baby Boomers

Matures

Different views of the world

Work culture preferences

The new ways of working will almost certainly demand and involve new skills,

knowledge and attributes.

• Questions for leaders:

How are you embracing change and leading others?

What investment are you making in reskilling yourself for this changing

way of working?

Are your priorities and actions future-focussed?

Leading in the new world of work

Leading an age-diverse workforce

• Intentional approach = productivity, results.

• Tailor rewards, then empower managers.

• Flexible work arrangements.

• Intergenerational teaming and learning.

• Succession planning.

QLD Treasury’s generational challenges

• Managing talent pipeline – ‘shifting and gifting’ at senior levels to create

space.

Promote ‘high potentials’ quicker through non-linear opportunities.

• Managing knowledge - capture boomers’ knowledge better

Constantly fighting the ‘tyranny of the expert’.

• Collaborative culture which recognises and values learning – reward and

recognise behaviours which strengthen collective responsibility

Information readily shared, data more widely available

Impacts on talent pipelines

Millennials ready to lead, but many boomers have delayed retirement.

• Gen Xers and Millennials stuck in pipeline.

As more boomers start to retire, not enough Gen Xers to take over

• Millennials filling high-level roles quicker than expected.

Need to put more intent into developing millennials for leadership.

• Give them breadth and depth of experience.

More engagement? Leverage, not segment, the multi-gen workforce.

• One of the best ways is through formal mentoring.

Better talent management required

Much more than ready and available talent:

• Need strong, long-term succession management, shared openly

with employees.

• Old way – hierarchy of jobs, linear career progression.

• New way – non-linear. Focus on talent assessment: “Who is most

ready for the job?”

• Emphasise behaviour in line with cultural pillars, as much as

deliverables.

Clash points

Performance management and feedback

• Matures: No news is good news

• Boomer: Feedback once a year, with lots of documentation

• Gen X: Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing?

• Millennials: Feedback whenever I want at the push of a button

Clash points

Career perspective

• Matures: Build a legacy

• Boomer: Build a stellar career

• Gen X: Build a portable career

• Millennials: Build parallel careers

Work life balance

• Matures: Support me in shifting the balance

• Boomer: Help me balance everyone else and find meaning myself

• Gen X: Give me balance now, not when I’m 65

• Millennials: Give me flexibility to balance all my activities

• How do we attract quickly and retain top talent?

• How do we provide alternative working solutions to meet

diverse needs?

• How do we engage and motivate people to give their best

every day?

It’s time to design a better employee experience

Strategic Response 1 – flexible work options

• Career breaks, job sharing, leave (special, emergent/compassionate, carers,

parental, long service), accrued days off, part-time, purchased leave,

telecommuting, phased retirement, spread of hours.

• Committed to flexible environment, fair, reasonable, eliminating discrimination

based on family responsibilities

• Employees still have same career opportunities, training,

information, dissemination, consultative opportunities.

Individuals’ circumstances are all different, and

these change over time.

Trust and accountability are key to success.

Motivating the generations

Generation X

• Lots of projects and challenges

• Independent work, creative thinking

• Frequent constructive feedback

• Time for other interests

• Reward on results/merit, not on status/longevity

• Invest in current technologies

Strategic Response 2 – physical environment

Variety of age-related challenges

• Move to 1 William Street building

• Extensive consideration of technology, access, ergonomics

• Physical inclusions to best accommodate anticipated increase in age-

related challenges – mobility, visual, hearing impairments.

Strategic Response 3 – health & wellbeing

• Annual calendar of events promoting an inclusive and diverse

workforce

• Health checks – blood pressure, cholesterol, eye and skin – all ages.

• Corporate health insurance – employees and families.

• Free flu jabs

• Employee assistance program

Financial health

• Monthly seminars - topics for different generations: superannuation,

income insurance, transition to retirement, investment plans.

Strategic Response 4 – learning & development

Opportunities for all generations

• GRADStart – entry-level graduates and students

internships, work placements

close connections with Queensland universities.

• Scholarships – financial assistance, plus paid 12 week work placement

focussing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation.

• People Matters Program – current and aspiring team leaders

build people management capability

• Great Leaders Program – tailored, purpose-built leadership development – growing talent from within, across all generations

Learning across the generations

Become a Learning Organisation:

• skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring,

retaining knowledge, then modifying behaviour to reflect

new knowledge

• establish multi-generational project teams

Which is better: train the employee and have them leave, or have an

untrained employee?

• better to have employees trained, with supervisors and mentors

dedicated to talking to employees about their performance

Motivating the generations

Millennials

• Know their personal goals & align them with work goals

• Mentor programs — they expect “adults” to take interest in them

• Venues for personal and professional development

• Let them work with bright, creative people

• Opportunities to “sit at the table”

• Recognise that community service is important

Strategic Response 5 – achievement & development

plans

• Articulating what great performance looks like, and why.

• Ensure project work is aligned to Agency Excellence reform agenda.

• Less about retrospective assessment, more about increasing

performance and engagement year on year.

• Focus on aspirational development – building the capability we need

for the future.

• Great People capability system – self-assess across 9 capabilities,

take action to grow our skills.

Motivating the generations

Mature workers

• Personal touch: handwritten notes, face to face, etc.

• Time to socialise between tasks

• Symbolic and “official” artefacts of achievement

Boomers

• Public recognition, professional accolades

• Ask for input, get their consensus

• Reward work ethic and long hours

• Show them they’re valued and needed!

Strategic Response 6 - internal communication

• To meet needs of the multi-gen workforce, be aware of communication preferences

and use of technology. Ensure a variety of channels are used.

• Use the changing workforce to drive collaboration – technology can give all employees

a voice and a virtual space to interact.

• Use mobile platforms to easily share information across all generations.

Visible leadership, values champions

Leaders who adapt to a changing environment

Integrated people analytics and metrics

Build the right capability to drive performance into the future

Keep the focus on strategic investment in human capital

Active learning and knowledge sharing

What role will you play to create the future?

Final thoughts - leading and engaging through

transformation

• What questions or comments do you have?

• Enjoy the remainder of the conference and safe travels!

Thank you for the opportunity to share our journey