Understanding and Managing the Four Generations

Last week I announced the availability of our newest white paper: “The New Era of Strategic Recognition: Engaging Multi-Generational and Multicultural Teams in the 21st Century Global Workforce.”

But what are the major differences in the four generations in the workforce today? While our white paper discusses the differences in recognition needs and wants, Tim Wright, author of the Culture to Engage blog, recently published a series of posts on the generations including this one with more general information on the work styles of the generations.

Tim also comments in an earlier post on the new skills management will need to develop to deal with these generational dynamics and how group/team dynamics are affected by generational differences. Both conspire to affect employee engagement levels and must be addressed proactively and with patience.

What are your techniques for managing across the four generations? Do you vary your style depending on the age/generation of the person you are working with? Tell us about it in comments.

Engaging Multigenerational and Multicultural Teams in the 21st Century

World@Work recently issued a report on Rewarding a Multigenerational Workforce, which included these findings:

“There is, at best, an awareness of differing generational needs by total rewards professionals. There does not appear, however, to be a concerted effort to proactively go beyond this recognition. The survey reveals that 56% of organizations do not consider generational differences when designing total rewards programs, implying that they may not feel a pressing need to address each generation uniquely or perhaps don’t have the tools to automate and manage the process. The survey also finds that 80% do not have an organization-wide strategy that calls for consideration of a multigenerational workforce when designing, administering or communicating total rewards programs.”

World@Work’s benefits practice leader commented on the findings: “The lack of attention to generational differences could thwart efforts to attract, motivate and retain top talent. Companies will soon have to confront the need for a rewards strategy to meet the diverse needs of a multigenerational workforce.”

But what should that multigenerational rewards strategy look like? Are you looking for ways to recognize and reward all of your employees appropriately, meaningfully and personally – from all generations and cultures?

Globoforce recently issued our latest white paper: “The New Era of Strategic Recognition: Engaging Multi-Generational and Multicultural Teams in the 21st Century Global Workforce.”

Not only does this paper highlight the differences in rewards and recognition needs for the four generations (Silents, Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y), but it also offers tips on how to incorporate your company vision, values and messages into a strategic recognition program that acts as a bridge between the various generations, global cultures, and even company positions common in today’s distributed organizations.

We also guide you through four key elements for successful strategic recognition in the 21st century – making recognition frequent and timely, based on your values, available to all, and measurable.

I’ll be blogging in more detail about some of the latest research and articles on the generational differences in the workplace next week. Stay tuned and join the conversation in comments.

Intuit “Spotlights” Global Recognition Success in Webinar

Intuit, a valued customer of ours for many years, joined me last week for a webinar “Spotlighting” their global strategic recognition program. The subject of a recent Stanford Graduate School of Business case study, Intuit and their “Spotlight” program have achieved their goals to:

1) Say thank you globally to drive employee engagement
2) Implement an easy-to-use system
3) Integrate recognition into the performance management process

As Jim Grenier, vice president of rewards, workplace and HR global shared services, and Jennifer Lepird, senior compensation business partner, of Intuit reiterated, recognition is the “simplest and most positive form of informal feedback.”

Adopting this attitude becomes even more important in our current business environment where 65% of Americans claim they get no recognition and 80% of global employees cite lack of recognition as a reason for leaving a job.

As Jim and Jennifer explain, Intuit chose to drive their company culture through recognition, which naturally increased employee engagement levels. Intuit’s past and current CEOs have supported this cultural direction because of the direct link they see between engagement and financial performance.

I encourage you to download the recorded webinar to learn more about Intuit’s successful global strategic recognition program and how you too could benefit from a culture of recognition.

Globoforce Listed on Inc. 500!

I’m very pleased with our latest achievement as a company – being listed among the 2008 Inc. 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S.

Jane Berentson, editor of Inc., commented, “If you want to find out which companies are going to change the world, look at the Inc. 500. These are the most innovative, dynamic, fast-growing companies in the nation – the ones coming up with solutions to some of our knottiest problems, creating systems that let us conduct business faster and easier, and manufacturing products we soon discover we can’t live without.”

One of the “knottiest problems” in today’s fearful economic climate is helping employees stay motivated and focused on achieving company objectives. Our continued success in this ailing economy is due in part to our customers realizing the role strategic recognition plays. With just a small, well-governed investment in recognition programs for their people, company leadership can reap dramatic benefits in performance and achievement. Many companies having to do more with fewer resources, are putting strategic recognition to work for them.

Our listing is thanks to the hard work of all of our people – from product development creating an easy-to-use and fun platform for employee recognition to our rewards network developers securing relationships with nearly 3,000 desirable merchants around the world for truly global recognition capabilities to sales and marketing effectively communicating the value of achieving a global strategic recognition ambition to our Global 2000 customers. I thank all of our people for their efforts that put us on the Inc. 500!