Next Generation Next Destination

TRANSITIONING PARENTING ROLES AND WORKPLACE ACCEPTANCE

The articles keep piling on: Just this week the New York Times Sunday Styles section (August 12, 2012) big feature on the changing attitudes about stay-at-home dads; and sports pages in many newspapers and electronic media on professional athletes’ fatherly devotion (e.g., Eli Manning, elite quarterback, said he thinks he’s an “elite dad”). I wrote about this trend in sports several years ago, and I’m delighted to see young fathers in other occupations not only expanding their parenting roles, but also speaking publicly about it.

My big questions are:

1-    How much have attitudes in the workplace (not the sports arena) changed toward part-time worker/dads and stay-at-home dads?

2-    Will elimination of stigmas regarding work/life flexibility for men accelerate acceptance and new flexibility for everyone and help women in the workplace as well?

3-    Are the more open attitudes a generational thing, more prevalent with Gen X and Gen Y/Millennials?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

 

PERSONAL FREEDOM'S KEYWORDS

As we celebrate our nation’s founding and freedom and our own personal freedom, I have been reflecting on some of the keywords of our personal and intellectual freedom and what they can mean. Here are a few that can affect our sense of purpose regarding our work and our lives.

• Too many choices
• Shifting priorities
• Blooming creativity
• Resisting the mundane
• Losing track of the abundance
• Too much clutter
• Too many things started and still unfinished
• Keeping in touch with others

Freedom requires discipline and accountability – to one’s self as well as to others. Usually accountability to oneself is the hardest.

Do you relate?  What are your personal freedom keywords?

Looking forward to your comments.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot

GEN Y JUGGLERS: A TOUGH TRANSITION FROM COLLEGE TO CAREER

Recently I read a thought-provoking story – front page of the New York Times Sunday Business section (June 26, 2011) – “Job Jugglers, Walking on the Tightrope” by Hannah Seligman. On the one hand, it is very sad to see that a significant number of Gen Y/Millennials are working three or four part-time job and often still not meeting basic expenses. These are college grads hit by a deeply “recessionary” job market.

We hear so much about the unemployed, and we hear so much talk about that generation’s entitlement mentality. As I enjoy seeing myths debunked, it is gratifying to see the resilience and the dedication of the twenty-somethings to leading self-sufficient lives with a strong work ethic, flexibility and energy.

For all their pluck and long days, this is an untenable situation: stressful, always worrying about money, no benefits and rarely providing entre to a full-time job, and no way of paying off education debt. This is now known as “mal-employment.” (Federal data reports 1.9 million graduates were mal-employed, up 17% from 2007.)

It does demonstrate this generation’s multi-tasking ability, underlying optimism and personal organizational skills and even desire to acquire new skills.

What will be the long-term effects? Too much multi-tasking leading to difficulty focusing on big, long-term goals? Permanent salary lag? Burnout and exhaustion? Further putting off commitments?

Some do make the multi-part-time juggling work style a matter of choice. For some Gen Yers (as with previous generations), flexibility and freedom equals happiness when contrasted with a full-time office job. Does this harken back to the “freelance mentality” the Gen Xers were known for in the 1980s and 1990s? Will it be an extension of Gen Y’s desire for multiple careers and having options? How will job-juggling work when the desire for family piles on additional responsibilities?

Please comment and add your thoughts.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot      www.pdcounsel.com

 

TRANSITIONS GEN Y WILL DRIVE

A question that came to me after a webinar I led on April 14th warranted a longer and widely distributed answer. While the question was focused on law firms, I believe it applies to other types of firms of professionals and knowledge workers as well.

Q: What key changes do you think Gen Y/ Milleninals (same generation) will drive in terms of how law firms operate (e.g. changes to law firm structure and process, changes to hourly rate billing model)?

This is a juicy question to speculate about.  My answer, admittedly, is a combination of realistic trendwatching, projection of typical Gen Y/Millennial traits, and a bit of wishful thinking. Here goes:

I think we will see influenced by the Gen Yers, more flexibility, more demand and existence of diversity and inclusion of all kinds and more representation of Gen Ys (and later generations) in the strategic direction and governance of firms.

Facetime will be demanded to a lesser degree as a daily expectation (appealing because that can reduce real estate costs for firms). Both Gen Y and X will push this through their savvy use of technology and social networks. However, human nature won’t change radically as to the importance of keeping top-of-mind through in-person visibility and interaction and the significance of non-verbal cues in communication. Skype and other video communication from mobile apps will help to change attitudes about non-essential in-person facetime.

Some of these changes will come about more quickly, not because of Millennial demands in general, but because the male Millennials are speaking up publicly - unlike most of the men in prior generations - to admit they want changes in the flexibility and structure that women have been more vocal about. When it’s obvious that the workplace needs to be structured to make it work better for everyone and their clients of all generations and levels (my mission for the last dozen years), change has to come.

We will see more regular collaboration among firm colleagues and with clients. Again, that is happening already. The key to this is the willingness to change compensation systems that often reward lone ranger behaviors rather than the behaviors desired to enable maximizing collaboration and helping others. That means financial incentives for transitioning clients and roles, mentoring, coaching and enabling the best person for both billable and non-billable work to be selected and accept the role 

Billing models have been changing slowly for some time, and not from Gen Y influence. Clients will always be the most important influence and driver of change regarding billing models. Another driver is the success of alternate firm models, including virtual firms that can operate at lower costs and do equivalent quality work. Those firms are being started primarily by the younger half of the Boomers and Gen Xers.

Please chime in with your thoughts, comments, positive and negative and keep a dialogue going. It’s up to all of us, Millennial or not, to help determine the future and use our influence.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot       www.pdcounsel.com 

 

 

 

MORE ON REINVENTION OF THE EMPLOYMENT DEAL AND BOOSTING ENGAGEMENT

CFOs were asked, "What perks, if any, is your company offering or planning to offer in 2011 in an effort to attract and retain employees?" (Multiple responses were allowed.)

Results of the survey during the 4^th quarter of 2011 of over 1,400 CFOs of firms with at least 20 employees by Accountemps, a specialized staffing service for temporary accounting, finance, and bookkeeping professionals, indicated that they offered or were planning to offer the following perks 

Subsidized training/education – 29%

Flexible work hours or telecommuting – 24%

Mentoring programs – 24%

Matching gift programs – 13%

Free or subsidized lunch or snacks – 11%

On-site perks such as childcare, dry cleaning, fitness center, cafeteria – 11%

Subsidized transportation – 10%

Subsidized gym membership – 9%

Sabbaticals – 8%

Housing or relocation assistance – 7%

 The focus is on training to increase employee competence – good for the companies and enabling people to be more marketable at the same time – as well as adding convenience to make their lives more manageable, It’s good to see those are high priorities, and it would be even better if the percentages of firms offering these items were higher. We can hope they will rise as they feel more secure about the economy and feel the threat of increased employee mobility.

The Professional Employment Report has the comprehensive results.

Keeping desired employees engaged at any time, and especially when they have more job and career options, will mean in addition to perks, offering what they want the most after reasonable compensation – meaningful and challenging work and fair treatment with opportunity to grow. Employers should not take their eye off that ball.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot 

 

HOW DEEP ARE INTER-GENERATIONAL RESENTMENTS?

An ABA Journal online article (8/27/10) on how Gen X can bridge the gap and bring work-life balance to work unleashed a torrent of anger among three generations with accusations hurled back and forth in the Comments posted. The comments hardly even touched on the original subject of the article. In the attempt to express some rationality from a cooler head, here is what I posted:

If the anger in these comments is any indication of the generational divides in law firms and other organizations of lawyers, the profession is in big trouble. It seems the role of adversarial advocate has taken hold, and a lot of dialogue and conflict resolution is needed to not only settle the case but also build a strong foundation for multi-generational teams to enable continuing success for the long-term. If angry lawyers hold the same views about clients of another generation as they do of their other-generation colleagues, they will never be able to serve them well or retain client relationships.

For the most part, only the Traditionalists received any favorable comments from the Xer generation. Representatives of the other three generations hurled invective at each other. If this is all we knew of life in law firms, as both co-workers and clients we would waste no time in turning and running.

Perhaps it’s largely the strain of the terrible economy and either not having enough to do or being overworked as a survivor of lay-offs. In any case, it this outburst has brought such strong feelings to the surface, firms and other organizations need to address generational differences and conflicts ASAP if they expect to retain clients of various generations and serve them with high performing multi-generational teams.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot www.pdcounsel.com   

EMPATHY IN THE WORKPLACE

I was recently asked to give my opinion about the findings of a University of Michigan study reported in ScienceDaily(May 29, 2010) concluding that American college students don't have as much empathy as students before 2000 did. The series of 72 studies was conducted between 1979 and 2009. Did the findings ring true? What might be the reasons for the notable decrease in empathy? Here are my thoughts.

My personal experience with the college students I know and/or mentor is not the same as the study’s findings, but my pool is much smaller, so I have no scientific basis upon which to refute the findings. As a workplace inter-generational relations expert, I mostly deal with Gen Yers already out of school. I think many of them get an undeserved negative reputation. I have found them to be eager to learn, open, hardworking, ambitious and fun in general.

 

My speculation concerning the lack of empathy shown would be a sort of numbness from the trauma of 9/11 at an impressionable age (yes, I’m a New Yorker) and being served a constant menu of violence in media of all sorts. (I would say these factors influence the younger Gen Xers, say under age 35, as well.)  Also, the pressure in school and to get into schools and to deal with constant messaging from many sources has left many of them with little time to reflect outside of themselves. Yet, Gen Yers are big into community service and concern for social problems, which indicates empathy.

 

The study findings lead me to ask these questions:

• What does this lack of empathy finding mean for their relations with colleagues in the workplace?
• Will they be willng to pitch in and compensate for colleagues who need flexible time off?
• Will they continue to collaborate if they don’t get as much recognition as they want and somebody else does get the recognition?
• Will they have the necessary empathy for clients and customers to provide the outstanding service that is demanded in these competitive times to succeed in business?

 These are crucial business questions, and we need to instill the importance of empathy.

 

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com  

 

REINVENTION: WORKPLACE CULTURES THAT ATTRACT THE NEXT GENERATION

To find out firsthand what Generation Y/Millennials want and expect from the workplace and employers, Human Resources Executive magazine (February 2010 issue) held a roundtable discussion with a group of Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) seniors. The seven students, class of 2010, have had work experience and internships to draw experience and articulately express opinions from. Here is a summary.

Attributes of an Employer of Choice

Stimulating office culture; Positive impact on the world; Genuineness

Ideal Level of Job Feedback

Direct communication and feedback constantly - a two-way street; Feeling the supervisor is actually invested in the employee; Feeling comfortable giving feedback to a supervisor; Regularly scheduled meetings when total attention is given with all external communication turned off

Significant Learning from Internships

Importance of office politics; I may not be as valued as I expected, but rather am being used as a means to an end; Often not given the "big picture," which would have helped me to contribute more, but people are

A SNOW DAY PERSPECTIVE

Most of the U.S. has been experiencing some kind of bad weather this dreary winter. Despite ominous forecasts, New York hasn't had much snow until today. Right now it's still beautifully white, fresh, a soft blanket that brings to mind sleeping in, sledding in the park, or in my husband's case, watching Team USA clobber Finland in the Winter Olympics. (That's a change from the new hot sport, curling.)

Against my first inclination, I didn't sleep in. Instead  I spent time rescheduling meetings, working on next week's events and blog posts (more substantive than this one) and requested speaking topics on generational issues. I am no doubt grateful that there was less e-mail than on a normal weekday, a slight relief, but still a time-sucker.

For people who had to be traveling, the disruption is frustrating or worse. But for others, the forced slowing down should be enjoyed. Since most knowledge workers these days have enough electronics at home to be able to work when they need to if not fully stocked offices, it may be a welcomed mind-shift for a day. Gen Y/Millennials never knew a time when it was otherwise.

Take time to be in the moment. Maybe it's nice to know there are things we can't control and go with the flow.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

FORECAST: ASK THEM WHAT THEY WANT

n      A component of the engagement package is reward. So organizations will adopt Innovative Ideas to Reward Their Valued Workers. Employers will focus on recognition and non-financial rewards that will provide the psychic rewards that professionals and other top talent need to keep them going and loyal.  And firms will learn to go to the source of most welcomed ideas – workers suggesting what rewards other than money are most appreciated. I bet that one of them, especially for Gen Y, is employers listening to their ideas and taking their suggestions seriously – so this one is a two-fer!

 

       Different generations and individuals have their own ideas of what is meaningful recognition. Rewards may need to be customized and must be perceived as fair.

 

        Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com