YP Perspectives - Meeting the Needs of a Multi-Generational Workforce

The packed crowd at UMC21's YP Perspectives panel: So, What Do YPs Want Anyway? submitted rave reviews in person and on Twitter and LinkedIN telling us they wanted to extend this discussion further. So, we are proposing Part 2: A Multi-Generational Workforce for UMC22. We managed to drop the boring PowerPoint lecture and engage with the audience at UMC in a frank and open discussion about attracting, retaining, and empowering YPs, even inviting the audience to live text us their questions. We received so much response that we didn't even get to two of the three themes planned for the 1.5 hour session. As an industry, we know we are going to lose between 30 and 50 percent of our experienced workforce in the next decade and that this is the first time in history we have four generations working simultaneously in the work place. Are there differences? Sure. But we're more alike than we realize, we just communicate it in different ways. This panel of young professional managers and leaders in the water industry will talk about what we need to do to promote the value of the industry as a career option for bright professionals and how we need to change the way we think about work. Some takeaways from Part 1 were: - Work ethic is not changing from one generation of the workforce to the next. There have always been varying levels of interest and effort within a generational cohort. - YPs asking questions isn't necessarily to question existing processes but to understand, learn, and grow. It may be necessary for staff to understand the intent behind questioning, training YPs (i.e. they're not here to take your job), etc. Communication is key — are generations misunderstanding one another? - We should WANT new employees to ask questions and want to learn more. It fosters shared knowledge, thinking like an owner, and buy-in. - It is important to cross-train new employees. Keep them interested. Expose them to different responsibilities to help them learn, empower them, grow their skills, and retain them - Helping OGs understand the benefits of technology instead of forcing it on them may encourage adoption (show them that the work can be done more efficiently) - There are plenty of OGs that want YPs to succeed, so we should be doing a better job of shouting them out and encouraging other YPs to take advantage of the opportunities that are present. - The widespread retirements about to hit the industry is a huge problem for organizations, but also a huge opportunity — especially for YPs! - Attracting and retaining — beyond pay and benefits — is your work culture/ workplace environment one in which top workers are begging to work at? -- the industry needs to better communicate the value and public service it provides in order to attract employees who are passionate and think like an owner when it comes to innovation and problem solving - YPs aren't just 'future leaders,' we are current leaders, too. - DEI is an industry-wide issue/topic, but YPs are well positioned to drive the change around that. - Call to action --Focus on your top performers. Don't get caught up catering to your lowest level and employees who aren't as interested --Opportunity — give employees stretch projects to grow their skills/experience — invest in and empower them to become the producers you're looking for.