EMPLOYMENT LOG-JAMS

Employment logjams are not very different from logjams that used to occur when loggers used the river ways for log transport. Too many logs piling up at that narrow bend in the river - disaster only if unexpected and mismanaged.

Logjams in employment are more difficult to anticipate and even harder to manage. Profound changes in American society and workplaces have left employers facing challenges way beyond what will fit in the space of a workday…..even opening up that space into a workweek does not begin to un-seat the logjam. Clearly if employers do not face up to these challenges and deal with them successfully, their human issues workplace log jam will create rotting wood – those employees who can not or will not perform.

The first step in facing up to some of the workplace issues in your log jam may be your need to realistically confront today’s meaning of words such as loyalty, commitment, entitlement, empowerment, and flexibility as they are interpreted by you and then by your employees. Secondly, knowing what generation differences there are in your workplace helps you manage the inevitable jams of differences and allows you to capitalize on the commonalties in attitudes about work from worker to worker. The following are but a few of the attitudinal perspectives across generations:

Mature Worker. Born between 1930-1945. Lived through the depression, WWII and came of age in the Cold War era. Moved through cashless childhood to affluent adult. Possess a ‘traditional’ sense of dedication to job and company.

Boomer. Born 1946-1964. Grew up in Vietnam era and the Civil Rights Movement. Revolutionized workplace by pushing casual environment, flex schedule and work from home.

Gen Xer. Born 1965-1980. Bloomed in the workplace of the ‘80s, a time of great economic prosperity and status symbols. Watched parents get downsized, President’s scandalized and Bill Gates become rich. GenXer has huge respect for entrepreneurship and individuality.

Echo-Boomer. (GenYer) Coming to the workplace in our current booming economy has given a high level of optimism and enthusiasm for the future. Echo Boomer believes in family, ‘traditional’ work ethic, religion and technology.

The general mindsets featured above are brought to our hyper-speed mortgage banking workplace along with other generalized viewpoints, perceived myths and true realities. Myths collide with reality. Attitudes collide with attitudes. Balancing one act collides with balancing another …..a bend in the river is inevitable – log jam anyone?

Viewpoint to viewpoint

As an employer today you must have a strategy to help successfully manage the flow and avoid the jam. Mature supervisors who are of the mindset that “younger employees are not dedicated and loyal ‘like us old hands’”, need to be coached to view the team in today’s reality. It is not that they are not loyal. The viewpoint of loyalty has changed. Young workers housing, family and life issues are a high priority for them and in some areas of our country more difficult to balance than in others. Most young workers do feel work is critically important. The change in their viewpoint is the “transferability” of loyalty. Loyalty to them no longer means a life long ‘womb to tomb’ commitment to one employer. Instead, they commit to the task and the team goals. Their dedication is intense and aligned with employers immediate success. Younger workers feel very sincere when they tell their employers that they are loyal. Employers need to remember they mean “loyal to the job.”

Portability of skills and loyalty to effort is no new thing in mortgage banking. It is in fact, the one thing that has kept professional mortgage workers of every age from running screaming from the industry during shakeups and market swings. These workers deserve the flexibility to dedicate their talents to the best opportunities available to them. However, the latent effect of this viewpoint of portability is the risk of the worker, especially the younger worker, jumping ship unnecessarily. An employer viewpoint adjustment can make all the difference in employee retention.

An employers old viewpoint, “why do we need to give extra incentives to get people to do their job?” must be adjusted. Hard benefits (good pay and medical coverage) and soft benefits are vitally important. The following list comes from the younger worker’s viewpoint of a flexible workplace (soft benefit):

Training – offsite and internal is a highly sought after perk. Employees of today want to learn new skills because they know their skills may be obsolete tomorrow. Employers can capitalize on this viewpoint by having a program in place that will identify and train specific skills needed by the company for its future growth.

Most employees want a 401k, profit sharing or stock options (although after the burn of the Q1 ‘01 – options are not as big a carrot as they once were). At SRS we struggled with this for years before we got what the company and the employees could mutually enjoy. Don’t struggle. Call your bank, they can help you set up a 401K that works for your company. Just get it done.

A pleasant work environment is high on most workers wish list . The best beginning to a pleasant work environment is an employee handbook that answers most of the questions that if go unanswered create guesses about the workplace. Stated goals, stated mission statements, and orientation programs all set the pace for new employee awareness. On going when people are communicated to, listened to, and communicating freely they are happier. I once had a broker of a small but growing mortgage company relate to me how much trouble he was having with the way his employees wanted to take vacations and which holidays they were demanding be paid. The lack of an employee handbook that clearly communicated what holidays the company would pay created tension and confusion and loss of productivity.

Flexible working hours rates high on the list but does not always mean the same thing to each person.. To restate what is written earlier in this article, most pleasant working environments and the idea of flexibility to one person may be different than another. Communication on this subject is key. A good handbook communicates and also sets boundaries so supervisors don’t go overboard and risk an employee’s right to benefits. For example, changing an employee’s schedule in a way that might alter how vacation is calculated.

Managing around employment logjams requires a craftsman skilled in communication with a firm understanding of the changing workplace. Reaching an accord with employees about values like loyalty and commitment keep the pace of the work flowing in the direction of personal and corporate success.

Client Tip ID: 8