Wednesday, March 28, 2012


HR Becoming More Difficult for Managers

By: Justin Orow

Overview

Keeping employee turnover rates low is a top priority for most companies since replacing those employees can be very costly.  The tangible rewards that people receive for working come in the form of pay, incentives, and benefits (Mathis & Jackson 2010). There are many drivers to retention, ranging from compensation, career training and development, employee supervisor relationships, management factors, and job and work life.  There are substantial steps that can be taken to retain employees.  People and types of jobs differ so reasons employees leave and steps needed to retain employees will also vary,  Making it ever more difficult to make general assumptions about one age group or work force compared to the other.

Article Description/Connection to Text
The article “for generation y, succeeding at a young age is key” talks about the young workforce ages twenty to thirty.  The article mentions that most people of that age group are worried about their physical appearance and aren’t fit for the structural nine to five job.  “However, findings of a new study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) indicate that these do not matter much to the group that is also referred to as the Generation Y.   Instead, they value their jobs and are more interested in career development” (Butunyi 2010).   Only one out of ten who was surveyed cared for neither a gym membership nor a flexible dress code.  Something that people wouldn’t think to see in this generation of workers.   From the feedback the surveys received “clear work related goals, challenging and interesting work, coaching and mentoring as well as right benefits and incentives as key concerns of this group” (Butunyi 2010).  A driver for retention for the group that was surveyed would be Rewards: compensation, benefits, performance, and career training and development.  The article also states that although generation y in Kenya wants to advance their careers, they would also like to do it with less pressure in a less stressful work environment.  This survey helps Human Resources department of firms to have a better understanding of the different workforces to improve performance.  The mix in generations within the workforce is making it harder for HR to fare with employees.
 
Takeaway Points

Since this survey was taken in Nairobi Kenya the workforce will differ in almost any country.  Most young workforces want to get ahead at a young age and advance in their careers, and I think I can agree with most of the people who surveyed in the article that compensation and career advancement would be my top priorities also.  The difference in age groups in the work force is making it harder for Human Resources to satisfy the workforce and be as effective.  HR has to find new ways to retain employees, since different drivers of retention motivate each employee, they have to find a way to cultivate all these drivers of retention for all these different generations of employees to cut cost, and reach maximum effectiveness.   Surveys like the one given by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) are very significant and should be used very often to help Human Resources with feedback from the different workforces. 

Works cited

Mathis, R. L., & Jackson, J. H. (2010). Human resource management. (13 ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Butunyi, C. (2010, August 02).  East Africa: For Generation Y, Succeeding at an Early Age is Key. The East African


No comments:

Post a Comment