A College Educated Workforce for 2016

In the United States, the student debt of the Millennial generation is at an unprecedented level and university dropout rates continue to rise. The demand for college educated, skilled workers is quickly outpacing the supply. 

To help reverse this trend, the Interchange Group is donating funds this holiday season to Scholarship America, a non-profit whose mission is to make postsecondary education success possible for all students. Scholarship America is the country's largest provider of private scholarships, awarding over $3.3 billion to more than 2 million students and spending 97% of its total budget on programs. 

My wish for 2016 is to help students complete their education beyond high school with manageable debt so that our communities will prosper and our workforces will strengthen. 

Happy New Year!

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

The 10 Toughest Jobs To Fill In 2016 & What To Do About It

2015 was a challenging year for hiring managers. Regardless of industry and geography, companies struggled to find and keep top talent. Unfortunately, 2016 is predicted to be tougher. According to new data from Career Cast the 10 most difficult jobs to fill in 2016 represent a diversity of industries, levels and functions. 

• Data scientists
• Electrical engineers
• General and operations managers
• Home health aide workers
• Information security analysts
• Marketing managers
• Medical services managers
• Physical therapists
• Registered nurses
• Software engineers

Attracting and retaining talent will be the number one human capital challenge of 2016. It will force executives and HR leaders to reassess their needs and priorities and to work together to accomplish key talent objectives. To achieve your recruitment and retention goals for 2016 and beyond, follow these three strategies.

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

Planning for 2016

We are beginning the 4th quarter, a time when workloads increase and managers endeavor to complete projects due at the year’s end. Q4 is also a time of planning for the coming year, when upcoming strategic initiatives are vetted, confirmed and budgeted. Most HR and Talent Management executives, as a result, have more on their plate than is realistic to accomplish, and are reluctant to offload the work to their own direct reports, who are equally burdened with year-end deadlines.

Effective managers cope with this crunch time by developing a small cadre of trusted outside specialists to delegate overloads of work to in Q4 or at any other time. Over the years, these consultants learn the company and culture and are available on call to use their specialized expertise to complete initiatives, from start to finish, with limited guidance. Many are also trusted resources for designing, facilitating and documenting strategic planning efforts so that the executive’s time and bandwidth are freed to think and execute at the appropriate leadership level. 

My work prepares leaders and their workforces to think strategically about their resources and to excel under conditions and in environments that are often quite different from what they have known historically. It moves through the entire employee lifecycle, from attracting and onboarding new hires, to developing and retaining them, to ensuring that career paths and succession plans are in place for the roles that matter most to organizations. The results create cost savings and stabilize companies for growth and profitability.

In support of completing 2015 project initiatives or your 2016 planning efforts, please feel free to access my whitepapers, blog posts, and multi-media for useful thought leadership and insight.

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

Millennials’ “Don’t Ask, Do Tell” Vacation Policy

Managers of Millennials complain to me that their young employees will tell, not ask, their managers that they will be taking vacation or time off. Or the Millennial will opt to work remotely without clearing it with their boss. From the Manager’s perspective, this shows a brazen lack of respect for the manager and the workload of others.

The Millennial perspective is quite different. Millennials believe that the 9-5 construct of work is dead. They intuitively understand that the future of work requires a high degree of flexibility – from the employee and the employer. Their willingness and desire to work in such dynamic ways, however, is ahead of what most employers understand, or have the capacity and infrastructure to currently support. Millennials assume their bosses are on the same page about this flexibility, but that cannot be farther from the truth.

Most conflict between Millennial employees and their older managers stem from generational differences in upbringing, work history and present-day expectations of the job. For insight into the most common areas of conflict and for strategies on integrating Millennials into organizations for long-term success, download my latest whitepaper, The Top 3 Conflicts Between Millennials & Their Managers or feel free to contact me directly. 

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

Millennials Don't Take Initiative - Or Do They?

"Millennials don't take initiative." This is the sentiment of most Generation X managers I meet, who complain that their younger employees wait around for work to be assigned to them and only perform the bare minimum required of their job.

When I share this perspective with Millennials, they are shocked. Millennials think that they do take initiative. Their professional ambition and desire to excel in their jobs requires it. 

So why is there such profound difference of opinion on this issue? Here is the answer:

• Millennials equate taking initiative with asking questions and collaboratively involving one's boss
• Generation Xers believe taking initiative means "figuring it out" on one's own, without having to rely on others 

These contrasting views make sense, given each generation's experience growing up and in the workplace. However, they are cause for costly and avoidable misunderstandings at work that lead to low productivity, retention and engagement.

For insight and strategies on to how to bridge the generational divide and integrate Millennials into organizations for long-term success, please feel free to visit my website or contact me directly.

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

Millennials Don't Scoop Ice Cream

The rate of teen employment has dropped significantly over the last two decades. While the majority of teens in the 1970's and 80's worked during summer vacation, less than 1/3 of last summer's teens held a paying job. Instead, they:

• Enrolled in high school or college courses
• Did unpaid community service work as part of their graduation requirements
• Took unpaid professional internships to bolster their college applications

While these activities make Millennials more attractive to colleges, there is a noticeable downside. Once Millennials enter the workforce, they lack the experience with service and administrative tasks that past generations gained from summer jobs. Many also enter the workforce not having experience with pay checks, requests for time off, and other requirements germane to employment. This unfamiliarity with the world of work has put Millennials at odds with older hiring managers, who express disbelief when their young employees do not accept "grunt work," take time off without approval, or ask for a raise because their net pay does not cover living expenses. The misunderstandings that ensue on both sides are time consuming and expensive.

To reconcile this problematic divide, employers must retool their hiring and onboarding practices to include more education on the fundamentals of work and to align expectations about the company, culture and roles. Without this knowledge, Millennials begin jobs on shaky ground that is difficult to correct down the road.

For more insight and strategies on how to integrate Millennials in to your organization for long-term success, register for my upcoming webcast, New Hire Onboarding - Practical Advice to Boost Performance & Retention, or contact me directly

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy

What Does a Female Leader Look Like?

When I speak on the topic of female leadership to cross generational audiences of women, dress is often a topic of conversation. It is a visual manifestation of how we view power. For example, Baby Boomer parameters for women's attire in the workplace favor the pant suit. In contrast, Millennial women prefer clothing that expresses their femininity and does not emulate male power norms.

Dress is just one of the many indicators that we are on the cusp of a new era of gender definitions and issues. Generational differences among women are redefining female leadership norms, and changing demographics are forcing new realities for working mothers. To successfully attract, develop and retain 21st century female leaders, organizations will need to develop targeted strategies for:

• Engaging a multigenerational female workforce
• Attracting and onboarding women for long-term retention
• Building and promoting a strong pipeline of women leaders
• Providing workplace flexibility that adds real value to working parents
• Addressing financial security and equal pay for women

For insight into this these strategies, feel free to listen to my HCI podcast, Set a Course for Substantial & Authentic 21st Century Female Leadership, or my NPR interview, Some Companies Fight Pay Gap By Eliminating Salary Negotiations.

If you are coming to the SHRM conference, be sure to attend my MEGA SESSION, What Women Want: Recruiting, Developing and Keeping 21st Century Women Leaders, on June 30. 

Amy Hirsh Robinson, Principal, Interchange Group

Workforce Strategies for the New Economy