X, Y and Z are pretty familiar and popular alphabets and all credit goes to our very own mathematics and its various theorems. Few people know that X and Y has its own significance in management concepts as well, mostly known to HR professionals (well… they have to study McGregor’s X & Y theories). It has been an old concept now but still effective and people practice it unintentionally in their area of management.
McGregor’s theory was related to management styles but now let’s bring our focus on another concept which came into existence much recently and is related with People; Generation X employees and Generation Y (read it Gen Y) employees. This concept states that Gen Y are the people who are young, energetic, techno savvy, rebels and freshers having fresh ideas, concepts, thoughts and highly motivated to change the existing systems. It is believed that they can be moulded in whatever direction and their positive energy can be utilized for the maximum benefits. While, Gen X employees are the ones who have stepped into the maturity phase and have little innovation to introduce to the organizations. Still such cadre is valued highly but only if they have been good performers in all the expected areas. Not to mention that only a few people acquire the leadership positions, while others end their careers working the routine duties.
ENOUGH OF REFRESHING WITH SOME THEORIES, CONCEPTS AND HISTORY… LET’S GET BACK TO OUR CORE OBJECTIVE THAT WE WANT TO ACHIEVE THROUGH THIS BLOG.
In many organizations, OR rather in most organizations, OR actually in all the organizations, there’s a need to segment different kinds of employees and the basis should be PERFORMANCE and not age, or qualification, or experience, or loyalty, or relations (don’t be surprised… it’s a big factor in many organizations); after all organizations exist because of their business and business is generated by employees and their performance. So, I guess I have justified that if I’m saying performance to be valued at the top while appraising employees… I’m not wrong.
Let’s start defining different generations, employee selection criteria and their significance
Generation Z (read it ZEE… it sounds cool)
Find out all the employees who have an overall experience of at least 7 years and put all of them in this segment. Why all the experienced people in this segment? {Well, for a simple logic that they represent sleeping which in turn is represented by zzz… (pun intended)} The actual reason is a fact that after certain age and experience, most of the employees are used to perform regular duties and excel in routine operations. Although some of them don’t lack the enthusiasm to work creatively and loves to display their GOOD LEADERSHIP skills, the remaining, either due to lack of recognition, lack of skills or just lack of that killer instinct, become a routine worker and reach a stage beyond which they can’t be motivated enough to rise up like a youngster (we’ll discuss sometime later on how to work on them). On a concluding note for this segment, these are the employees whose work is important BUT not so unique which no one else can do.
Generation Y (yes you got it right… Y is for YOUNG)
Find out all the employees from 0 – 7 years and put them in this segment. You might think isn’t someone above three years of experience is old enough to be called a youngster? Indeed anyone up to an experience of 3 years is a youngster but just to remind you that we are talking about performance and any employee, no matter how well he/she is performing in whatever work given (even routine tasks) can be moulded into different shapes and made to be moved into different directions AT LEAST up to reaching an experience level of 7 years. So, finalizing the count to this level where employees can still be utilized for their creativity and ideas by developing their skills and constant motivations in the right direction.
Generation X (my favourite)
We have already distributed employees into two segments, BELOW & ABOVE 7 years of experience. Don’t worry… we still have the scope for Gen X employees. Let’s take a look at our surroundings and our own teams or some people who despite of doing their regular work are favourites and popular among others. These are the people who often come up with new ideas, possess innovative skills and techniques, are creative in their approach & work AND are equipped with self motivation skills who are always ready to help others, take personal interest in problem solving and display soft skills above average level {huff… that’s a long sentence}. Not to mention that such people always look out for new opportunities, love dynamic and free work environment. All they demand is freedom to work their way and they’ll deliver the desired. You can find such employees in any age group whose hunger to learn, perform and achieve never dies. KEEP SUCH PEOPLE IN THIS SEGMENT. Why “X”? Well, it a known fact that X is an unknown element; similarly such employees are mysterious in a way and no one knows (sometimes even they themselves don’t know) what they have under their belts. On a concluding note… find such employees from across the organization and keep them engaged, retain them and get the maximum benefit out.
I guess I have explained this concept to some extent and I feel this is not the right place to discuss it in detail. BUT WHY ARE WE DISCUSSING ON THIS TOPIC? Well that’s simple… if we don’t disclose it to employees, it’s a core Performance Management activity AND if we make it public, you can relate it further with Employee Motivation and Recognition. If you are now thinking me to explain it further on why are we looking to recognize and retain these employees and how is it going to be helpful for the organization… YOU PROBABLY ARE AT A WRONG SECTION OF BLOGS (no pun intended).
So folks… keep reading
The Unconventional Optimist 