Bridging the Generation Gap in the Workplace

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Baby Boomers, Employco, Employee Assistance Report, generation gap, Impact Publications, Millennials

Generation gaps are nothing new, but the battle between Baby Boomers and Millennials is one for the record books. Never before have two generations been so at odds and so out of touch with each other’s culture and desires.

“The older generation just doesn’t get today’s young people,” says Rob Wilson, president of Employco, “All they see is a bunch of distracted kids playing on their cell phones and posting on Facebook in the middle of the workday. However, I think there are actually plenty of things we could stand to learn from the younger generation…but first we have to start speaking their language.”

Wilson suggests ways to bridge the generation gap in the workplace:

•  Think outside the 9-5 box. “In previous generations, we clocked in and clocked out from 9-5. But today’s young people don’t work that way…they would rather have flexible schedules or the ability to work part-time from home. And with advanced technology, the reality is that some people can get more work done at home than they can in the office. Companies need to be open to the idea of alternative work schedules.”

•  Trade mentoring skills. “We often think that young people need to be mentored by older people, and that’s certainly true to some extent. However, it can be a two-way street. Maybe you can teach a young person in your office how to give a stellar presentation, but he can teach you how to create an online presence for your company.”

More tips will be presented in the next post on this blog.      This topic is also covered in the March 2015 “Employee Assistance Report” newsletter.  More info available at http://www.impact-publications.com.

For more information on Employco, visit http://www.employco.com

 

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Remembering a Champion for Disability Employment

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APSE, Bob Niemiec, Griffin-Hammis Associates, Steve Savage

Steve Savage was my friend. He was a fellow Hoosier that entered the disability employment field at about the same time I did. I was actually aware of Steve before we became friends. I remember him doing wild presentations at APSE with his partner, Patrick Sandy. I was always impressed with the passion and commitment they displayed as they challenged people to think differently and more importantly, to act differently about helping people with significant disabilities enter the workforce.
Steve and I became good friends while we were serving on Institute for Rehabilitation Issues work groups. We spent many hours in Washington, DC talking about what each of us could do to improve employment for people with disabilities.
Steve served on the board of directors of national APSE during my term as President. I could always count on Steve to provide straight answers and critical input. Steve and I wrote the bylaws for the APSE Foundation. I was always happy that our views of the world were in sync, which made this particular task much easier than it should have been.
Steve was a doer. He walked the walk. I cannot recall a time during our acquaintance when he wasn’t actively doing something. He was approachable, affable and funny. He worked tirelessly to establish the BLN (Business Leadership Network) in Indiana as well as working with other states.
When given a project, Steve always came through. He made an impact on everyone who came in contact with him. Steve was also the first recipient of the David Hammis Award in 2013. I know how proud he was to receive this great honor named after one of his dear friends and heroes.
There aren’t enough words or pages to contain my feelings about Steve. I always looked forward to his periodic and random phone calls. Whenever we were together, it was a great time for friendship, deep conversations and those goofy jokes that only Steve could tell. The field of disability employment has lost a great champion and hero, and I have lost a dear friend. (Editor’s note: Steve Savage died Feb. 13, 2015.)

Bob Niemiec
Griffin-Hammis Associates, Inc.
St. Paul, MN

Drop these Things from YOUR Life!

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10 Things You Should Drop from Your Life!, Sammie U. Aysan

* DROP the negative people in your life. Negative people are energy suckers, they suck the life out of you until you get down to their way of thinking.  It can be tough if you work closely with someone who is like this, or have family members who are like this. Drop them gradually … or at least stay out of their way as much as possible.

* DROP dwelling on your past.  Can you go back and change it? No! So why dwell on things that have happened in the past when there is nothing you can do to change it? You can make amends for the past, you can say you’re sorry about something you’ve done in the past, but the fact remains it can’t be changed. The more you dwell on the past, the more your mind lives there and not in the present.

* DROP focusing on past mistakes. This tip is a bit of a cliche: Your mistakes serve as a reminder of what not to do in the future, it’s as simple as that. Nobody has ever succeeded without failing a few times, so making mistakes is inevitable if you want to live a more successful and happier life.

* DROP trying to please everyone. It’s impossible to please everyone, even if you’re the nicest, most loving person in the world there’s always someone who will not like you for some reason. Let it go, it’s okay for some people not to like you, and it’s okay to stop going out of your way to try and please them. Be yourself, and if someone doesn’t like you for being yourself at least you’ll respect yourself for being you.

Source: Sammie U. Aysan, an Executive Assistant with Duke Energy Corp.

You Read that Right, Send EMPLOYEES Valentines, too!

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Bonnie Harvey, Michael Houlihan, The Entrepreneurial Culture, Valentine's Day

When is the last time you told one of your employees, “You mean so much to me!”

It’s still only the second month of 2015, and as Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey point out, what employers and supervisors do now will set the tone for many months to come.

“By now, last year’s reports are finally in,” explains Houlihan, co-author along with Bonnie Harvey of The Entrepreneurial Culture: 23 Ways to Engage and Empower Your People (Footnotes Press, 2014, http://www.TheBarefootSpirit.com). “Find something positive in those reports that you can share with your people. This is the perfect opportunity to show them how much you appreciate their efforts on your company’s behalf.” “Send a ‘valentine’ that acknowledges them for a job well done,” adds Harvey.  The following are among their reasons why now is the perfect time to show some love to employees:

* Appropriate timing. What could be a better time to send an appreciative message to your folks than on a day when valentine cards are already being exchanged? “Your ‘valentine’ will fit right into the spirit of the day,” notes Houlihan. “It will be unexpected but welcomed, which will make it even more appreciated.”

* Improved performance. Acknowledgment and appreciation are still the best ways to validate positive behavior and encourage your people to perform. “Aside from income, one of the main reasons why they work for you is the satisfaction that comes from doing great work,” says Harvey. “And hearing from their respected leaders only adds to their positive feelings about their work. If you put your appreciation in writing, such as in a valentine, it will mean more to them than simple verbal recognition.”

* Reduce turnover. Money isn’t the only reason employees leave your business to work for competitors. Often, they go because they don’t feel appreciated. “Too many employees say they made the move because their last company ‘just didn’t appreciate me!'” says Houlihan. “Don’t let that be the reason why you lose your top people. If you do, you’ll lose corporate know-how, critical relationships, the cost of replacement, and even your customers.”

EAPs: Consider Posters as Tool for Reaching Young Workers

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EAPs, Facebook Generation, full-color posters, Impact Publications, Journal of Employee Assistance, reaching young workers

“Current employees are retiring at a record pace and are being replaced by a generation of people who work, think and connect much differently than their predecessors,” states Leah Szemborski, an EAP counselor and author of an article on this subject matter, in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Employee Assistance.

Just how CAN employee assistance professionals make sure their services are relevant to the Facebook Generation? Full-color posters that promote your specific EAP can be one simple, inexpensive, yet effective method. Consider: Young people are used to quickly scanning LOTS of text online – so they tend to avoid reading long messages. However, full-color posters contain little text, yet are striking and rich in visual content. Messages are simple, colorful, and yet intriguing.

Full-color posters offered by Impact Publications come in 11 x 17 and 8-1/2 x 11 sizes, and are even available in Spanish! Categories include Anger, Addiction, Financial, and Mental Health. To find out more, check out http://www.impact-publications.com/categorgy/EARN-Posters

Note: Once on the main page, go to the “Employee Assistance Professionals” and “Posters” links.

 

‘Cupid Contracts’ are a Good Idea

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CareerBuilder, Employee Assistance Report, Kathleen McKenna, office romance, workplace romance

Valentine’s Day will soon be here, but is romance in the office a good idea? This post offers some suggestions.

Have you ever fallen for a co-worker? It’s fairly common; after all, you spend 40-plus hours a week with them. According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 4 out of 10 people have dated a co-worker at some point, and a majority of them ended up getting married.

But having a workplace romance can get employees into trouble, especially if it’s a boss-subordinate relationship, because it can quickly turn into a sexual harassment lawsuit – with the “underling” claiming they were afraid they’d be fired if they didn’t date the boss.

If an employee client is headed toward a supervisor-worker relationship, employment attorney Kathleen McKenna suggests signing a “cupid contract” that spells out in writing that the relationship is consensual. Set a few ground rules in case the relationship ends, kind of like an office romance pre-nup, which of you will leave the department, or the company, if the relationship flames out, or if management decides you should no longer work together.

The employee must think long and hard about what it would be like to lose his or her job, because in most failed romances, one person ends up leaving, voluntarily or not.

Actually, even co-workers not involved in the relationship sometimes end up suing the company because the employees who are in the relationship can make the workplace hostile for everybody.

This article originally appeared in the February 2015 Employee Assistance Report. For a sample copy, visit the “Employee Assistance Professionals” link at http://www.impact-publications.com    or email mike.jacquart@impacttrainingcenter.net

 

How to Answer the Dreaded ‘Got a Minute?’

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Edward G. Brown, The Time Bandit Solution, time management

Everyone seems to be too stretched for time these days. Yet when almost anybody asks, “Got a minute?” most people automatically answer, “Sure, how can I help?” How can you stop saying that each and every time and take more control of your busy workday? The following are some suggestions from Edward G. Brown, author of “The Time Bandit Solution: Recovering Stolen Time You Never Knew You Had.” http://www.timebanditsolution.com

* Name the problem. As they say in therapy circles, if you can’t name it, you can’t fix it. Here’s the name: It’s not a minute – it’s an interruption. A minute freely chosen and freely given is innocuous, but interruptions are thieving little intrusions. There’s the interruption that throws you off task. There’s loss of momentum due to the work stoppage. There’s also the time wasted reorganizing your thoughts.

* Know your facts. If you have a budget with X dollars, there’s no agonizing over a decision. The dollars tell you yes or no; no argument, no drama. You need the same facts about your time. You need to have a complete awareness of those tasks that are so important that leaving them undone will cause serious problems. This means separating them from that long list of things that distract us, e.g. “busyness” as opposed to critical tasks.

* Don’t say “no.” The opposite of “yes” doesn’t have to be “no.” Say something like, “Joe, I would like to give you my full attention, but I am swamped right now. May I get back to you when we can chat?” This lets your “time bandit” know that his or her best interests aren’t served any better than yours by interruption. Most of all, they keep you from sounding like that selfish, non-team player jerk that you dread.

This is a condensed version of an article that appeared in the February 2015 issue of “Employee Assistance Report.” For more information on this newsletter for EA professionals, visit http://www.impact-publications.com.