Performance management for the centennial workforce
With different generations currently active in the labor market, many companies have workers of all ages. And although it would be easier to manage the HR process in the same way for everyone, the reality is that each generation has different ways of working, learning, and solving problems. In other words, what works for a 50-year-old may not work for a 20-year-old.
In this article, we will explain how to apply performance management to centennials. It is always good to have the energy of centennials as they work hand in hand with the experience of older people. However, it is necessary to know how to manage the differences between the different age groups so that the HR management can track their performance correctly.
- What is performance management within the HR process?
- Centennial: Defining the concept
- Keys to improving your HR process and the work performance of the centennial workforce
- HR process: Conclusions
- How can we help you implement a better HR process for your centennial workforce?
1. What is performance management within the HR process?
Performance management is a study instrument at the corporate level that provides support to managers to evaluate and monitor the activities of employees. The objective of this tool is to create the conditions so that personal employees can perform at their highest level, which will help the business to have greater productivity.
Through the application of a formal performance management program, managers and employees will be able to see the expectations, goals, and work progress, which includes the way in which each specific employee must work in order to improve their performance. In this way, their job will be in line with the objectives of the company.
Performance management sees people and their development in the workplace to seek to adapt their abilities, develop them to their maximum potential, and put them at the service of the company. As a result, the objectives can be achieved corporate more easily.
On the other hand, and regarding social changes, it seems logical to think that the new abilities and ways of working of the talented younger generations favor greater and better integration of novelties in the mechanisms aimed at attracting and retention. Therefore, we want to analyze whether the incorporation of these innovations supposes the end of traditional methods of the HR process.
Likewise, it is also necessary to evaluate the company’s succession planning in order to identify and develop human talent with the potential to secure and cover the positions that are critical for the organization in the future, guaranteeing the creation and maintenance of the company’s competitive advantage.
There are many methods to evaluate performance such as the Hay evaluation. This technique is widely used in North America and Europe.
2. Centennial: Defining the concept
Centennials are those young people born after the year 2000 and who have lived under the boom of mobile devices. Also known as “generation Z” they are, along with “millennials”, the majority demographic worldwide.
What stands out between this generational group and other generations is that people born in this era were born with much more technology. For example, the Internet and mobile phones. Hence, values are different between this generational group and the remaining generations. Therefore, in the HR process, it is necessary to know how to manage workers within this age range from a labor point of view.
On the other hand, in general terms, the community they are part of is an essential part of their lives. Most say that family and friends are the most important thing for them. In addition, they spend more time than any previous generation caring for the environment and contributing to social causes. Sport and following a healthy lifestyle are among their priorities, as well as traveling.
3. Keys to improving your HR process and the work performance of the centennial workforce
For most centennials, it is essential to work in what they like. The most demanded professions in their age group are engineering, testing video games, medicine, and graphic design.
The most complex aspect that companies deal with is the professional management of their employees. Something that is not easy given that most managers belong to the Baby Boomer generation or “Generation X”; whose principles and values are much more traditional than those of centennials.
While previous generations conceive of work as the only way to survive, centennials have a different philosophy of life. For example, companies are no longer places to spend a lifetime, but now this generation chooses a workplace where they feel comfortable and that helps them grow professionally.
Likewise, this new generation has a series of demands and aspirations that are very different from those of their predecessors. This is why companies need to renew themselves to manage the talent of centennials. Companies have to adapt their HR process and their form of leadership to be in line with the aspirations of a generation that will make up 75% of the world’s workforce in 2025.
Undoubtedly, something positive for companies is the fact of taking advantage of the familiarity of centennials with technology to improve the skills of the entire organization. This is an important factor in Human Resources management.
Having a close relationship with employees, challenging them on a daily basis, and creating a coworking-style workspace are some of the keys that managers must take care of to manage a work team made up of centennials.
Here are some guidelines that companies need to keep in mind to harness and manage the talent of this generation and that the company must include in its corporate structure:
3.1 A stimulating, challenging job
This generation aspires to get a job that challenges them daily and that at the same time is attractive to them. Above all, they seek to provide a differential value in the tasks they perform on a daily basis.
3.2 Progress
Centennials look forward to a new position at their company every 12 to 24 months. In addition, they are looking for a company in which training, play, and work are mixed. They highly value collaboration and the exchange of knowledge, which is why they look favorably at international and functional mobility. This generation is characterized by immediacy, so they need their company to stipulate short-term goals with visible results.
Managers must help them identify opportunities and assign them different projects so they are able to develop new skills.
Young talent enter the company with expectations and a desire to learn and grow. This is an ambitious generation. For this reason, the company must know how far those needs go in order to elaborate the respective development plans. Thus, if employees know their chances of developing and earning skills within the company, they will have a vision of the future within the same.
The new generations do not feel satisfied with carrying out their tasks in the same position. However, they consider job stability as stability in their professional career.
3.3 A closer relationship with managers
This generation is demanding to have a relationship of accessibility and closeness with their superiors. Also, they are more inclined to be a part of the decision-making process. They value that their company offers mentoring sessions and that their bosses give them feedback.
In addition, they demand that their superiors do not discriminate employees on the grounds of sexual orientation, ideology, race, or religion.
3.4 Coworking-style workspace
These new professionals like to carry out their work in pleasant spaces. Also, they like to work in a varied organizational environment in which socialization is encouraged and in which large companies collaborate together with self-employed entrepreneurs.
3.5 Recognition before remuneration
For many centennials, it is more important that they value their job rather than their salary. But this does not mean that they do not care about salary. Regardless of age range, everyone likes to earn as much as possible. However, salary is behind the reconciliation of work and family, a good relationship with their colleagues, and fitting in with the culture of their company.
3.6 Reconciliation of work and family
This generation aspires to work in a company that allows them to have a flexible schedule to spend more time with their family and have more free time. Unlike previous generations, they aspire to work for results and not with fixed office hours.
3.7 Digital companies
Centennials appreciate that technology is used in their company to establish social relationships, and encourage the use of social networks among colleagues inside and outside the company.
As we mentioned earlier, companies need to take advantage of centennials’ familiarity with technology to up-skill the entire organization.
They like companies that have prestige and a recognized brand because they are aware that their value in the market is closely related to their knowledge and skills. They do not aspire to remain in the same company until retirement but instead seek to change jobs based on their interests and motivations.
These are very important points to make the organization design and the organization structure.
4. HR process: Conclusions
Social transformations are other variations that have disrupted the schemes of the environment. On the other hand, the reverse trend of the pyramid has been observed in demographic, characterized by the decrease in the birth rate, and the increase in life expectancy.
Likewise, the ease of access and the improvement of educational systems have generated the confluence of a greater number of qualified people in the market. Therefore, we can say that the levels of competition between potential workers have also increased.
As a result of these transformations, organizations have begun to seek other resources through which to increase their levels of competitiveness, innovation, and differentiation from other companies. Thus, there has been a change in the vision of the employee within the company; abandoning the idea of them being mere resource providers of labor power. In contrast, today, they have come to be conceived as a strategic and fundamental element of it.
On the other hand, there is talk of the infidelity of young people towards companies given the high levels of turnover shown by this generation. It is true that the current trend is that young talent does not look forward to retiring in the company in which they are at the moment when aspiring for new experiences and workplaces. For them, the implementation of training and development in the company for which they work is important.
This statement seems to imply the absence of responsibility regarding jobs in the younger group. However, this issue is not about a lack of commitment, but about a lack of opportunities and motivation for the fulfillment of centennials’ aspirations.
5. How can we help you implement a better HR process for your centennial workforce?
The attraction and fidelity of young talent have become a challenge nowadays. The changing and competitive business context has put the focus on the capacity of companies to manage talent. This is a consequence of the conversion of the human factor into the strategic element par excellence. For this reason, the HR process especially searches for strategies and tools that link talent with the organization.
On EOR Middle East, we offer you the best Human Resources consulting and management services for your HR process. Similarly, we can also implement a Human Resources Management System (HRMS) to easily monitor your company’s performance management.
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