The selected article for week 4 analysis was about improving the workplace or organizational culture by servicing the needs of both the new and old employees. The article by Falkenrath (2010) discussed important issues that need to be factored by all human resource units to ensure productive and long-lasting manpower.
In its introductory bit, the author stressed that it is wrong for any company to come up with a similar set of needs and wants for motivating both the new and older generation employees. This is supported by the fact that the two sets of employees have varying needs and wants which ought to be captured separately.
For instance, while new employees may find it appealing to work longer hours on higher salaries, older employees who have embraced a similar trend in their youthful state would prefer non-monetary rewards to appreciate their services at the workplaces (Stark, 2010).
While giving the example of an aging and special group of the American population born in the period succeeding the World War II (Baby Boomers) which had witnessed an escalating reduction from workplaces, the article noted that there was need for the current management to understand the demographic factors such as age which were the root causes to the aging workers’ mass exodus from workplaces.
This is gotten from the notion that this part of the aging workforce is still needed to reinforce the newly recruited workforce in effecting increasing business tasks. The article went ahead to provide a summary of the following as some of the factors that can be embraced in motivating an aging workforce.
To start with, the article acknowledged the importance of adopting and embracing mentoring programs. These programs provide personal achievement to the mentor by allowing them to pass the acquired knowledge downstream to the younger workforce. Alternatively, these programs allow the learners to share their ‘new’ skills with the older generation thus enhancing the sharing of knowledge between the old and new generational workforce.
Stark (2010) revisited that praising and recognizing good behaviors can also act as a motivating factor for the older generation. In addition, I also learned that retraining older workers in applications that keep on changing such as technological applications help in motivating and widening their knowledge base.
This finding was supported in Stark’s (2010) article when he referred to it as the creation of excitement at workplaces. To him, providing training and getting workers involved in determining the company vision and set goals were key motivators.
Tellingly, allowing workers to balance and properly utilize the time spent at work and attending to other aspects of life (commonly called work-life balance) is a critical consideration for employees’ success (Stark, 2010). According to Landy and Conte (2009), this has the cost of improving their physical health and well-being (p.365).
Towards its end, the article stressed on the need of respecting the older employees by observing actions such as assigning them special projects to make meaningful contributions and not comparing their work habits with those of the energetic young force (Falkenrath, 2010).
Another key point stressed in motivating either aging or new generational employees is the adherence to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 in the USA. This act calls on employers to offer equal wages to men and women working in the same job group (McKay, 2012). It was also a learning point when the article went ahead to clarify that unequal pay was justified in instances where the job in question offers unrelated or unequal skill, effort, working conditions and responsibilities matrix (McKay, 2012).
References
Falkenrath, B. (2010). Workplace culture: Motivating an aging workforce. Web.
Landy, F.J. & Conte, J.M. (2009). Work in the 21st Century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. John Wiley & Sons: USA.
McKay, D.R. (2012). Equal pay for equal work: The Equal Pay Act of 1963. Web.
Stark, P.B. (2010). What matters most to employees? Web.