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Lindsay 00:02
It can feel to leaders overwhelming that every 10 to 15 years, “now we have to understand this next generation and… and cater to them.” And I… I always want to slow us down when leaders ask me this question, because in the big picture generations don’t change overnight.

Susan 00:22
Welcome to The JoyPowered® Workspace Podcast, where we help HR and business leaders embrace joy in the workplace. I’m Susan White, owner of Susan Tinder White Consulting, an HR consulting practice. Joining me is my co-host and dear friend JoDee Curtis, owner of Purple Ink and Powered by Purple Ink, a professional network I’m proud to be a part of.

Susan 00:41
Today’s topic is generational diversity. This topic came in as the second most popular request in our most recent listener survey. Thanks to all of you who did weigh in via LinkedIn, Twitter, and in response to our e-newsletter to let us know about the topics you want to hear about. In January of 2020, we did an episode entitled “Millennials as Managers.” In today’s episode, we want to refresh ourselves on some of the generalities associated with the various generations in the workplace and understand how can we facilitate greater understanding and appreciation for the strengths and uniquenesses we all bring into our places of employment. Vervoe.com had an article by Emily Heaslip in August 2022 entitled, “How To Embrace Generational Diversity in the Workplace.” The benefits of having a wide range of generations represented in your workplace includes people of different ages often bring different viewpoints, which helps increase innovation and creative problem solving.

JoDee 01:41
Intergenerational mentoring and reverse mentoring can build friendships that increase engagement and retention.

Susan 01:50
And finally, Emily said it helps companies understand a customer base comprised of generational diversity, which can enhance your marketing, product development, and customer experiences.

JoDee 02:02
Nice.

Susan 02:03
The Department of Labor defines the generational distribution of the US workforce as – this is early 2023 – Gen Z is ages 16 to 24. Millennials, people that are the ages 25 to 44. Gen X, anyone who today are in the ages between 45 and 59. And then Boomers, anyone who’s in the ages of 60 to 79. And then of course there are some people out there working that are 80 and older, and that is the Silent Generation. Maybe that’s why we never hear about them. Silent Generation. The risk of attributing certain characteristics to any generation is that we slip into stereotyping that can lead to conscious and unconscious biases. Consequently, let’s be mindful that these are generalities, and we are discussing them with the intent of gaining insights that builds bridges, not to pigeonhole or to create walls. So let’s just talk about some of those generalities about each of them. JoDee, how about Baby Boomers?

JoDee 03:03
By the way, my age falls right on the cusp between Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, so I was glad to see – and different places define those generations…sometimes I’m a Gen X, or sometimes I’m a baby boomer, but I’m gonna go with this Department of Labor definition that you mentioned, which makes me a Gen Xer. But I’ll start by talking about Baby Boomers. They are staying in the workforce longer than any other generation before them, and that’s based on research by Pew Research. The first generation to grow up watching TV, Boomers seek advancement and are very goal-oriented. Viewed as hard working, they want to be recognized for accomplishments and value in-person interactions.

Susan 04:01
Now I am a Baby Boomer and I kind of agree with all that. Yeah. All right. So Gen Xers. Here’s some generalities. They are approaching the midpoints of their careers and potential peak earning years. They grew up with minimum adult supervision compared to Baby Boomers, as they were the first generation where most two-parent households had both parents working outside of the home and after school programs and formal childcare was still relatively underdeveloped. CNBC calls Gen X “America’s neglected middle child.” In 2022, just over 50% of all leadership roles are held by Gen Xers. They are known to be hardworking, adaptable, and digitally savvy. Compared to Millennials, they work harder to break down internal silos, are slower to be promoted, and tend to be more loyal and less likely to leave employers.

JoDee 04:53
Millennials are the largest population in the US today. Common traits associated with them per CNBC are tech-savvy – and 90% of millennials own smartphones, by the way. They are family-centric, achievement-oriented, feedback-seeking, job-hopping, and team-oriented. They want meaning in their work, as 50% of them say they would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values.

Susan 05:29
Wow. I think that really reflects my two Millennial kids for sure. And so Gen Zers or Zoomers, as they’re sometimes called, have grown up immersed in the internet, unlike Millennials who can remember… they can remember being alive before wireless internet. While Millennials put more emphasis on meaningful work and vacation days, 65% of Gen Zers say salary is their top priority. Diversity to Gen Zers mean in every dimension, including identity, and they are the most open to it.

JoDee 06:03
Nice.

Susan 06:04
Yeah. So generational stereotyping can fuel conflict and can impede inclusion efforts, which is why organizations want to help their employees embrace generational diversity. Emily Heaslip suggests first thing you can do – talk openly about age-based stereotypes.

JoDee 06:22
And rather than thinking about what generation someone is in, adapt to each employee’s life stage. Like, do they need more flexibility as they are taking classes or need to pick up kids or care for an aging parent, whatever that might be?

Susan 06:42
Don’t presume. I love that. And that’s really what, number three, she says. Don’t make age-based assumptions.

JoDee 06:48
Number four, include everyone. For example, don’t exclude Boomers from leadership training programs, or Gen Zers from mentoring programs, or a Gen Xer from being a campus recruiting ambassador.

Susan 07:04
I’ve seen that done so many times. They’re trying to look for somebody on campus, “we’ll pick some of our young fresh hires.” I’m like, that’s so wrong. Right? You are using age here in a really wrong way. Number five, diversify communication methodologies. Ask your employees’ preferences. Is it the phone? Is it in person? Is it email? Is it slack? Is it text? Is it virtual? Try to respond to where… where… what their needs are.

JoDee 07:30
Design benefit packages that appeal to your employees based on their life stage, not their age. Do they need mental health support? Health benefits? Phased retirement programs? Career growth resources? Lots of different things that we can consider.

Susan 07:48
And then finally, she suggests prioritize building age diverse teams. If you look around and you realize you’ve got a team of everybody in the same age group or the same decade, think about, we know we get the best out of teams that are diverse. How do we make sure that we are moving people around and making sure that we’re not ending up with all the people looking alike and being the same age in the same room all the time?

JoDee 08:11
I love it.

Susan 08:12
So we’ve invited back one of our favorite guests to help us explore this topic further, Lindsay Boccardo. For more than a decade, Lindsay has been developing leadership programs for professional growth and emotional health in the workplace. Lindsay’s expertise now spans industries and age groups to focus on creating meaningful experiences at work for Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Z alike. As a certified professional coach and a nationally recognized speaker, Lindsay is often asked to speak on generations at work and the coaching skills needed to lead an organization into the future.

JoDee 08:48
Hi, Lindsay, and welcome back to the JoyPowered® podcast.

Lindsay 08:53
Hi!

JoDee 08:54
We’ve talked in the past about Millennials at work. What’s different with Gen Zs compared to Millennials?

Lindsay 09:03
A lot of people are asking me this, JoDee, because we think there’s… this is… there’s this seismic shift that’s going to happen and, “Gee, I just worked with Purple Ink to get my, you know, culture JoyPowered® and focused, and now I have to do it again, because this next generation is coming up?” This is… it can feel to leaders overwhelming that every 10 to 15 years, “Now we have to understand this next generation and… and cater to them.” And I… I always want to slow us down when leaders ask me this question, because in the big picture, generations don’t change overnight. It’s not like, “It’s January 1st, now we are starting new trends.” It’s really looking at, you know… it’s really saying, wow, the world is changing. Big picture, certainly COVID was a seismic shift in the workplace and created an earthquake that rattled all of us. But when we look at the generational trends or… or shifts that are happening, the three places that I tend to look are parenting trends of that generation. How did parents think about raising their kids? You know, so for Gen Zs, you’d say, what was it like raising a kid in the early 2000s when we started coming up with YouTube, and iPhones and all of these different trends? So I look at parenting trends and technology, because that changes every generation. We are in a technological… almost, like, a straight up curve. It’s not a… it’s not a stair step, oh, things are changing slowly. You know, we’ve been talking about artificial intelligence this last month writing entire papers for kids in college. So I look at technology. And then we also address the economy and the job market that that generation perceives what is going on in the economy. So with all that being said, I like to kind of precursor that, with all that being said, if you were to compare Millennials to Gen Zs, one of the biggest shifts, they have both witnessed the job market be tumultuous a few different times, and the economy as well. And because Gen Zs tend to be parented by Gen Xers, they take on some of the mentality of their parents. So they might be a little more conservative with their paychecks, they might look at multiple streams of income, I’m willing to stay a little longer to keep… I’m not really worried about keeping my dream alive as much as I am about making sure I have pay month to month. When Millennials were raised by Boomers, we tend – and I’m a Millennial – we tend to be a little more starry-eyed, dreaming, oh, I could do anything if I put my mind to it. Gen Zs are a little bit more concrete about the way they think about the future. We see that, too, in their choices of going to college or not, and even their parents’ support of them going into college. So Gen Zs are less likely to go get a four year degree. If they don’t understand how they’re going to make direct money and income off that degree, they’re not as interested, where us Millennials, we just thought going to college, that’s what we all do, we’ll figure it out on the other side. But, you know, then Gen Z’s saw our debt and said, “Oh, I’m going to be a little more practical than that.” So big picture, you can see how these trends unfold and shape their attitude.

JoDee 12:18
Yeah, great insight.

Susan 12:20
Yeah, I think that’s fascinating. So Lindsay, what are you seeing companies and organizations doing to really evolve with the needs of Gen Zs, and just new employees in general?

Lindsay 12:32
Yeah, and I would love to hear your take on this, too, because, you know, we’re all in that type of work. But the big area that I see companies understanding more is the importance of embracing tech, not just for the sake of being the cool guys, but to shorten the processes, particularly around application, onboarding, and getting people into their teams and getting people up and moving. That app process, you know, it takes over a month for you to figure out if you’re gonna hire somebody or not, they’ve already moved on. They’ve had 10 other opportunities. There’s a race for talent, and so the first thing I see organizations doing is saying, “Oh, we may have resisted, you know, doing video interviews, we may have resisted some of these things, but we can’t run fast enough to get the best talent.” And so seeing technology as an opportunity to connect, not something that we have to do because people think it’s cool, but really, how do we use this to connect quicker and more efficiently with our current employees and our future employees? Have y’all seen that? I’m sure you’ve seen that on your end.

Susan 13:38
Yes, definitely.

JoDee 13:40
Totally seen it. And I, you know… I used to feel like I had to keep up with all of it, and now many times, I’m just like, “That is awesome that you know how to do that. Do it for us.”

Lindsay 13:54
Yeah!

JoDee 13:55
I don’t even know them… I don’t even try to learn them all anymore. So.

Lindsay 14:00
That’s the collaboration piece, though, JoDee. That’s perfect. Because that’s the other piece of this, that we see organizations, they take on that mindset that you just said. We’ve got Gen Zs who grew up coding. We grew up in typing class, just word processing. They’re building universes in the meta space. They have a different mindset. Let’s bring them in and have them help and be a part of that, not try to figure it out ourselves and then try to impress them. Let’s bring them in on that. That’s exactly it.

JoDee 14:33
Right. We’ll make them in charge of it.

Lindsay 14:35
Exactly. Exactly.

Susan 14:37
You know, Lindsay, one thing that I was thinking when you talked about Gen Zs, you know, that folks born in the early 2000s, of course, they were just fresh… they were growing up as little toddlers after 9/11. And then, of course, we had the Great Recession and they saw lots of job loss and… gosh, and even the pandemic when they were just, you know, entering adulthood. It makes me think about all the mental health issues that we’re finally recognizing in the workplace. And companies, I think, are so much more responsive today to offering resources and acknowledging things. So maybe that’s another trend – companies trying to relate to the newer employees.

Lindsay 15:14
Yes, I would put that in the category of personal growth and emotional health. So absolutely, it’s not enough to just have an EAP and say, “Well, if you have a problem, we’ll pay for six therapy sessions,” or “We have therapists you can call and do virtual sessions,” but looking at… How do we start to build resilience in our employees? And sometimes I’ve seen forward thinking organizations bring in professional coaches who are starting to help build that emotional awareness, self-awareness, awareness of others, communication skills, on the sooner side to help prevent some of these bigger issues from happening, especially at work, like a toxic workplace. How do we create an environment where… Certainly if you grew up in the 2000s, you have seen several tragedies happen, you’ve seen a lot of instability, and you may also have a different perception of the purpose of work at this stage of humanity. And so if Gen Zs are coming to you, they’re also saying, “Are you going to foster my personal and emotional health, or are you going to take from it? If I sense that you’re going to take from it in exchange for money, I am not doing that.” So companies need to think beyond just how do we repair, if somebody needs something, how do we help them in an emergency or when there’s a crisis, but how do we create an environment where each person continues to flourish regardless of retention numbers? Do we create a space where people can grow and flourish and heal and have healthy relationships?

JoDee 16:48
Yeah, you know, Lindsay, we actually just started a program yesterday at Purple Ink around mind-body medicine that goes on for eight weeks, and as I was talking to people about this, I think, myself, like, I sort of thought, oh, this would be really good for us. People are talking about, you know, mental health more, and, you know, they’ll really love that we’re doing this. And I think people closer to my age, felt the same way and felt appreciative to get that. I think some of our younger team members, although I think they’re appreciative, I got the sense it was more like an expectation. Like, well, of course, you’re doing something, you know, we should be doing something around that. So, yeah.

Lindsay 16:49
Well, think about even just this concept that everybody knows… everybody knows the letters PPE now, right? So even if you didn’t work in an environment where you needed PPE, there… there always has been an expectation that your physical well-being was protected while you were at work. What about your emotional well-being? How is that protected at work? So there is this mentality of, like, this is my emotional, like, PPE. I’m not going to be productive if I’m being treated poorly or I’m in a toxic space. And so there is this, like… just like I would expect a hard hat at a construction job, or gloves if I was a surgeon, I expect this type of care from any type of work, even if I’m sitting in my house on my laptop.

JoDee 18:24
Right. So we’ve talked a lot about the younger generations. What can companies do at the same time to also focus on the retention of their more seasoned leaders or managers?

Lindsay 18:39
Yeah, because I bet y’all see this too, that we can get hyper focused on recruiting “a next generation,” and what if you’ve had a loyal person there for 15 years? What… Are we paying attention to that, or are we going after the youngest generation because they represent some narrative in our mind that “we’re the future, we’re more futuristic”? And one piece that I like to fold in when we’re talking about generations is actually developmental psychology. So stepping away from social trends, and, you know, “Oh, we need a TikTok”… like, okay, we can talk about how to fold TikTok into your recruiting plan. But thinking about the life stages. When we think about developmental psychology, we’re saying – and I use Erik Erikson as an example – humans move through different stages of development throughout their life. The majority of these happen when we’re kids. Kids grow up fast, and they’re kind of in, you know, stage six of eight by the time they’re 18 years old. They’ve already gone through most of the stages. But when you start to look at our older generations, you know, when you’ve been established at work, if you’re between 40 and 65, you’re looking to leave your mark on the world. You’re looking for something different than a new hire. A new hire, typically, because of developmental stages that we go through when you’re between 18 and 40, you’re trying to figure out where you belong. You’re trying to find your pack of humans that you’re going to spend time with. Your family, if you do want to get married or have a partner, you’re figuring all of that out in your early adulthood, and you’re kind of settling into a community. Not every single person, but that’s what most people are thinking about. And then, once you’re established in that community, when you’re about 40, Erik Erikson would say, then you’re looking out and saying, “Okay, I need to make my mark.” And what I see happening is companies flip-flop this and they ask a 30-year-old, “What is your life dream?” or “How do you want to make your mark on the world?”, and they’re thinking, “I’m just trying to adult. I’m, like, still… I’m trying to see what a 401(k), where my money is going.” They’re not necessarily thinking about leaving their mark. And think about the people… This is one I love, when people say instead of “40 Under 40,” do “50 Over 50.” Who’s making their mark at a developmentally appropriate time? I think about… not that you can’t be amazing and be “40 Under 40,” but there’s so much pressure to be phenomenal when you are very young and not fully developed. And I think about how we can honor those and take on the perspective of… as a leader and think about, man, after 40 is when you’re really considering leaving your mark. We need to ask that generation and those individuals – they’re typically Gen Xers and Boomers. You want to be asking them, “What type of mark do you want to leave?”

JoDee 21:34
Yeah, great point.

Susan 21:36
I’m gonna start a write-in campaign for “50 Over 50.” I love it.

Lindsay 21:41
I would be more inspired. Personally, I feel so much pressure. The reason I probably brought that up is my own bias. I feel so much pressure. I’m 38, y’all. I got two years to make “40 Under 40.” And I’m thinking, who says that that would be a mark of success for me? I’m not actually saying that. But boy, I feel the pressure. I would rather be on a “50 Over 50” list.

Susan 22:03
Yeah, I love it. So, Lindsay, can you talk a little bit for our listeners about how you can use coaching skills or leaders can use coaching skills to help bring generationally diverse teams together?

Lindsay 22:15
Yeah, I mean, the thing I love about coaching… I’m a certified coach through the ICF. Coaching is a theory of belief about how humans operate best, but it’s also a practice and it’s a set of skills. And so I love when leaders say, okay, what is the coaching theory that I’m going to believe is true about humans? I believe that people are good to their core and that they are resourceful. They long for autonomy and choice. And so when I drop that lens down and I realized that everyone has their own story that brought them here today, we all have our own perspective, we all have our own unique experiences, and that’s an asset to my organization. I’m not trying to get everybody to look the same. I approach people differently and I’m open to skills like open-ended empowering questions, listening on three different levels, helping my teammates set goals that matter to them – also goals that impact our bottom line, but what matters to them. And so, coaching skills… when leaders embrace coaching skills, they actually get more out of their employees, because there’s… it’s really a matter of slow down to go fast. Slowing down, listening, understanding people at their individual level, understanding what motivates them, their values, the things that get them out of bed in the morning, and being able to tailor their experience with you creates much more relational trust and safety and gives you an opportunity to see more of the brilliance of that person. And coaching allows you to to recognize your biases, recognize your own emotions around different topics, and recognize them, hold space for them, but also move through them and become a better leader. That’s what I love about coaching. I think it’s imperative that everybody who leads other people understands the practice of coaching. I don’t think we have to become therapists and get our degree in marriage and family counseling, although that’s fantastic. I do think coaching, a basic understanding of how to motivate and connect and create safety for people, is critical in 2023.

JoDee 24:23
Yeah, I agree. And, Lindsay, you’ve been doing this kind of work for over a decade now. How has your perspective changed, if any, regarding generations at work, culture, and/or employee engagement?

Lindsay 24:40
I think it’s really tempting to jump on the trend bandwagons and to be, like, a trendy company and what I… what I’ve really seen over the years is, JoDee, it’s what you stand for – JoyPowered®. It has to do with good culture being timeless. Good culture is timeless, it’s not about being advanced in everything. Even when we talk about bringing more technology into work, I’m really saying use it as a tool to connect and to create stronger interpersonal relationships, not technology for technology’s sake. And so I think about over the last decade, it’s very easy to get drawn to that argument. It’s also easy to put too much emphasis on generations. And any generational research you see, it may not represent your organization. I work with a lot of different sized companies, some are startups and have 65 people, some are national Fortune 500 companies that have thousands of people and they are global, they have global scale and global reach. And not every research that you see about Millennials or Gen Zs… they may not represent your workforce, depending on who you recruit and hire. And so the other thing that I talk a lot about, which is almost the antithesis of being a generational expert, is a focus on the individual over this kind of cohort mentality that “all Millennials are this way,” “all Boomers hate email,” “all Boomers don’t know how to attach a document,” “all Gen Zs want you to have a TikTok.” But thinking about, like, big picture, who are we wanting in our company, in our organization? What do they want from us? How do we support them, and just not get hung up on those big picture trends? Generational research plays a small role in terms of understanding the people that work for you. It’s better to just know their story and know what motivates them and spend your time and energy listening to the people right in front of you.

JoDee 26:49
I do want to make it clear, Lindsay, that I’m over 50, I do know how to attach a document. I just half the time forget to do so.

Lindsay 27:01
I think that that is not generationally specific. The attachment part is real. I understand. I think my computer somehow read my brain and attached it without me doing it. So. So yeah, I mean, I love these conversations. I love what y’all are doing. Because there’s this deeper piece that good culture is timeless and a culture that people want to be a part of is timeless. And I know that you’re doing that at Purple Ink, and I think that’s just so exciting to watch unfold in our community here.

JoDee 27:29
Yeah, thank you.

Susan 27:31
So Lindsay, being The JoyPowered® Workspace Podcast, we love to ask people a question related to JoyPowered®, so can you think of one thing that people or leaders and organizations are doing today that you think sucks the joy out of work?

Lindsay 27:46
Oh, my gosh, okay, how much time do we have? I think there’s a couple pieces. One is, which is not gonna be a surprise, is micromanaging people and not trusting them with responsibilities that you’re paying them to complete. I think micromanaging happens because on the front end, we don’t set expectations, and then we don’t get what we wanted, we don’t get what we expected, and now it’s the other individual’s fault. I think this has become an even deeper issue with working remote. Because when you’re working in person, you all know this, your psyche is picking up a lot more cues than you realize. If I were to come and work at the Purple Ink office today, sure, talking to JoDee would give me a layer. But watching how she talks to other people, watching how she works, oh, this group is kind of talkative, oh, if you’re in this space, everybody’s kind of collaborating. You miss all of that when you are remote. And you lose a ton of data about your culture when you’re remote. And so when we hire somebody at a remote level, especially somebody who’s maybe new and doesn’t have much professional experience or background, and you bring them in, it would be natural to just assume, like, they’ve got it. They’re very competent, they’re a high achiever, they’ve got it. And then it doesn’t… the product doesn’t come out like you expect, and then we go into micromanage mode. And so I see that sucks the life out of high achievers, because they simply didn’t know what you really wanted. So that’s another spot where I encourage leaders to slow down to go fast. I’ve had leaders say, “Well, I know that so-and-so was tweeting during our Zoom.” And I say, “Well, did you tell them they had to shut every other window and not tweet during this call?” “No.” Okay, well, for a Gen Z, it’s very normal to have… I’ve got my phone here, right? I’ve got windows open on my computer. There’s a lot of other layers happening. We need to be more explicit, particularly if we are remote. Just sucks the life out of people who probably have really good intentions and want to impress you, and yet aren’t able to read your mind.

Susan 29:54
Great advice. So Lindsay, before we let you go, if any of our listeners want to engage with you you to learn more, how can they reach you?

Lindsay 30:01
You know, I love being on LinkedIn, and that’s a great place, you can just search my name Lindsay Boccardo on LinkedIn, I’m happy to connect there. You can go to my website, to lindsayboccardo.com, if you want to kind of see what I’ve been up to. I’m happy to connect and keep this conversation going. It’s an important one.

Susan 30:18
That’s great. And we’ll put that information in our show notes.

JoDee 30:21
Lindsay, thank you so much for being with us today. You’re always so insightful, but yet so fun about it. And I know you do a lot of research on this stuff, too, so you’re really a pro on a lot of different things, coaching and generations and a lot more, too. So.

Lindsay 30:45
Thank you. I love being with y’all.

JoDee 30:47
Susan, we have a listener question, and this one came in during October 2022. “Do you have any suggestions for those who experience scope creep as it relates to their role? Some business leaders heap on more and more responsibilities onto their HR professionals that are not directly or sometimes even indirectly related to their job description.”

Susan 31:17
Oh, that last bullet in most job descriptions – all other duties as assigned. Makes me shiver, because that could be anything, right? And HR people are generally such, you know, bright and adaptable people that they do play catch a lot. A lot of balls are thrown to them that probably are outside of their, you know, their normal bailiwick. So, first of all, to the person who wrote in this question, congratulations to you that your leaders believe in you and recognize you as having these wide-ranging skills. I mean, really, it really is a compliment. However, that doesn’t help when you feel buried or maybe you are doing work that you don’t believe aligns with your abilities, or it’s work that you really detest. HR can be that catch-all in some organizations, because everything does involve people, so they think, well, certainly, there’s got to be a connection to HR. I recommend you prepare to have a crucial conversation with your boss. Here’s what was on my plate a year ago, here’s what’s on it today, and here are the potential risks if we don’t make any adjustments. It could be deadlines aren’t going to be met, we may elongate time to hire, we may have some compliance issues or risks that we should… really need to prioritize differently. For me to be able to meet our company’s and employees’ needs, we need to… and then fill in the blank. And that could be add to my staff, or maybe move the non-HR tasks off my plate. And I’m glad to work with you to identify where that better fit is in the company for these tasks, or maybe we decide that there’s going to be some things that don’t get done, they’re nice to get done, and these are the ones that are the need to get done. So in this discussion, you realize that there is little or nothing is going to come off your plate, that your boss is not hearing you, I think that you’re primed to discuss a raise as your job scope has enlarged and you haven’t been compensated for it. Whether or not you get that salary increase, you still want to take time to reflect whether this is the job for you. Has your role become a dumping ground for responsibilities that don’t make sense? Or in the positive light, are you getting an opportunity to grow in areas new to you and add to your staff, it’s going to make you an opportunity to develop more people that’s going to ultimately make you an attractive candidate for a future career path?

JoDee 33:29
Nice.

Susan 33:30
All right, it’s time for in the news. McLean and Company issued their 2023 HR Trends report after surveying 1075 business professionals in September 2022. The five 2023 trends they found were, trend number one…

JoDee 33:49
Re-examining HR’s role in 2023. There is still a need for HR to enhance its strategic skill set and monitor increasing HR stress and burnout levels. Recruiting and the employee experience are still the top priorities for HR, followed by developing leaders, controlling labor costs, learning and development, and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Susan 34:20
So trend number two, expanding the employee experience conversation. The study shares how a comprehensive focused employee value proposition has promising benefits. And so many organizations talk about employee experience, but it’s really the ones that are differentiating themselves by creating really strong employee experiences that is able to attract talent and retain talent.

JoDee 34:43
Trend number three, making space for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We need to demonstrate the correlation between high performing DEIB efforts and recruiting and retention results is critical, that lack of resourcing strategy and leadership support are continuing challenges, and even now with all the conversations we’ve had around diversity specifically in the past five years, only 1/3 of organizations have a formal diversity, equity, and inclusion, belonging strategy.

Susan 35:25
Isn’t that surprising? Wow. Trend number four, charting the course to HR digitization, which is the conversion of processes, documents, and other org information into a digital format through the use of digital technology. You know, automating anything that makes sense to automate you really need to do so that your people can really focus their time on human contact where it matters. By doing this, you can reduce costs, errors, and frustration, while hopefully enhancing the employee and manager self-service experiences. And then you start to enable data analytics where it was nearly impossible before. I can clearly understand why that’s a major trend.

JoDee 36:04
Right, me too. And trend number five is the struggle to close skill gaps. Many organizations have needs for skills that they cannot grow or import fast enough. First time leader development, for example, is a strong focus for many companies, as well as a real learning and development strategy that aligns with talent acquisition strategy. We can’t just continue to promote people without giving them the skills they need to be better leaders.

Susan 36:41
So true.

JoDee 36:42
Thanks for listening today and make it a JoyPowered® day.

Susan 36:47
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JoDee 37:23
You can learn more about JoyPowered® at getjoypowered.com. Check out The JoyPowered® Shop, where you can order our books, journals, and other items that power our joy, at getjoypowered.com/shop. We’re @JoyPowered on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter and you can email us at joypowered@gmail.com.

Susan 37:51
We hope you tune in next time, make it a JoyPowered® day.