Free Essay Sample on Human Resource Trend

Top performing companies emphasize on two primary models, which are directly related to their success. Business and talent strategies are intimately related to leadership and employee engagement for a business to achieve their objectives. Across the globe, the concepts of employee engagement and empowerment are trending up. The two concepts have been confused with satisfaction and happiness in the workstations. Engaging employees in the business or organization activities is a secret weapon to a successful business. If workers are happy, committed and empowered, they will remain loyal to the organization. However, there is a misunderstanding as employers claims they are doing their part in achieving employee engagement while employees continue to protest about not being engaged at work. The puzzle remains how do you create and maintain a suitable culture of engagement and make it effective.

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Leaders understand that to have an operational engagement with the employees is critical for business performance. According to Aon Hewitt, employee engagement is a state of emotional and intellectual pledge to a group or an organization and the extent to which business wins the minds and hearts of its employees (Hewitt, 2015). For this reason, employee engagement displays three primary behaviors, which are the extent to which an employee remains positive with the organization, the extent to which he or she is willing to continue working in the organization and the extent to which one is willing to put an extra effort for the success of the organization (Rendell & Brown, 2011). In the current business environment, the workplace keeps changing and engagement strategies are changing along with it. Those in human resource management are feeling the impact brought in the workstation by the millennial who are replacing the baby boomers.

Description of the trend and issue area

The millennial generation has widely been criticized and how to manage and work with them is a hot topic in the organization. The older generations have labeled them as disloyal and egotistic. However millennial is not very different from the previous generations. The core principles they are advocating for in the workplace are what any other employee would want from his or her employer. Todays multi-generational workforce is posing exclusive challenges to the managers. All generations in the workforce bring a unique strength to work, but the increasing number of millennial in leadership positions is posing quite a challenge. Analyses have branded the work style of millennial as self-starting, tech-savvy and structure-less, with drives going beyond profit and loss. Therefore, the infusion of these generations forces the human resource departments to modify the way they operate to engage all generations in a more productive manner. Despite, the objection millennial faces in the workplace empowering them will yield more as compared to criticizing their ability to deliver. In fact, managers have no other option than bridging the generational gap in the workstations.

Millennial perceive professional milestone differently from the previous generations. They have a different view when it comes to an elevation of status, expansion of responsibilities and other rapid advancements within the organization. Millennial crave for recognition for their achievements and desires to have regular feedbacks on their works. Also, optimizing working strategy and having better results within the shortest time possible is a distinctive characteristic of a millennial. Therefore, it is for the management to create a millennial-friendly environment for work . Otherwise, they will leave to find it elsewhere.

Discussion of why the trend or issue is an area of concern for HR and the business and organization they represent

The reason why human resource and businesses should be concerned with the increment of millennial in the workforce is that they affect business activities a lot and at all accounts, they are different from their preceding generations. The millennial generation views the world differently and has a redefined meaning of personality, success, and profession. With some of these differences, managers have to discover ways to harness the strength of this generation to benefit from their uniqueness, competence, and perceptions. In fact, the millennial generation has been termed as continuous learners, collaborators, team players, socially conscious, optimistic, achievement oriented and highly educated who are for the benefit of any organization they serve. On top of these accrued advantages, millennial is the fastest growing portion of the workforce in our businesses today. In fact, by 2020 it is expected they will have occupied more than 46% of the entire workforce (Rendell & Brown, 2011).

PWC further discovered that money is not everything as millennial are attracted more to organizations capable of offering more than merely good pay. However, that does not mean pay is not important as 44% of the graduate's question thought that competitive wages made an employer more attractive but an opportunity for career progression was the most favorable factor attracting employees to organizations (Rendell & Brown, 2011). The introduction of the new generation has also affected the older generation and competition in the firm, especially in the management position. Those in management and are not good in technology have been forced to learn more while others are stepping down to give room to the millennial workforce.

Discussion of who/what is affected by the trend or issue area (including real and unexpected consequences)

The life/work balance is a priority for millennial and from a survey conducted by PWC commissioned Opinion Research carried online across 75 countries and involving about 4364 graduates 95% of the respondents said that it is important to have a work balance environment (Rendell & Brown, 2011). Results rather than the number of hours they worked could reward employees in most cases. Though long hours are often rewarded without any measure of productivity, the millennial is seeking to maximize their output within the shortest time possible. About 30% of employed millennial felt that the work balance had been better than what they expected, but 28% felt the reverse was true. It is evident that incorporating the millennial in a workstation affects the life balance where employers need to handle their employees responsibly and not exploiting them (Rendell & Brown, 2011).

Millennial is the only generation that had a chance to develop in a world dominated by Internet and information technology. The advanced technology has transformative effects affecting the way the global community transacts business. To the preceding generation, coping with a high level of technology have posed a challenge and the people who come to their rescue is millennial. Therefore, it means disengaging with the millennial generation will result to the wastefulness of resources in organizations. It is also understandable that the millennial represents many unknown tactics in the business world. For these reasons, the future of work lies in empowering millennial talents and the utilization of their skills to the maximum. For the human resource managers the most complicated part of dealing with millennial is not necessarily understanding them but formulating strategies on how to attract and retain them in the organizations.

Discussion of how the HR can strategically collaborate with leaders in the business/ organizations, legislature, etc. to address the trend or issue and minimize its impact on the business, organization, and human capital.

Although the millennial workforce has been termed different from the previous generations, they only advocate for few amendments. For any organization hiring them, they have to formulate operative strategies on how to engage and empower this immense workforce. However, the human resource management needs to cooperate with other business leaders and government to create a more conducive environment for work. According to research by Temkin Group, a Boston-area customer experience, and advisory firm, to capitalize on millennial, there is a need to integrate various companies existing employee engagement efforts (Brack & Kerry, 2012). Currently, millennial is facing unemployment in most parts of the world. They have to compete for few job opportunities with the generation X who are preferred due to their experience blocking the path for the talented young millennial (Brack & Kerry, 2012). The situation has made most of the millennial to join voluntary jobs while others are underemployed where their competence and skills are not exploited at all.

Developing a conducive relationship between the human resource managers and other corporate leaders will settle some of these buzzwords. The organization leaders have the mandate to expand job descriptions as millennial are eager to smash any opportunities to grow and display their skills. Also, they crave for getting feedbacks from the management especially when their making valued contributions on their jobs. Therefore, companies should clearly define what they expect from this generation and create opportunities for the employees to expand their knowledge and skills. Leaders should strive to empower leaders and formulate ways aimed at motivating employees to give beyond their own contention but to the best of their abilities. Secondly, creating a connection with others either internally or externally will empower Millennial as they have lived in a social environment all through. Governments should also pave ways for companies to directly link with oversee organization exposing the millennial to a variety of new cultures.

Third, making work more flexible will make millennial feel their freedom is not restrained as they grew in a world where they had opportunities to choose where, when and how they complete their assignment and communicate with others. To keep pace businesses need to adapt to the ways millennial communicate, train and expect work to be accomplished. The millennial and the upcoming generations would appreciate the training and develop an interactive form of learning. Therefore, human resources and legislature should campaign for incorporation of technology-based training and collaboration tools, which must be in line with the millennial learning strategy. As much as the society long to see millennial deliver services as per the expectation, they need to accept that they need to empower them by creating a conducive environment for acquiring skills and practicing.

Description of the research sources used and individuals interviewed to gather data

PWC Commissioned Opinion Research carried the survey the millennial at work: reshaping the workplace as the millennial generation was reshaping the world of work. The study lasted for four years with the aim of providing a structure of managing tomorrows people. They had a vision of future work 2020 explaining how technology, globalism and social political would influence the business operations in future. The report highlights the characteristics of the newest generation workforce. The survey indicated that assuming that the millennial is entirely different from their predecessors is immaterial in several ways. Hence, the report recommends the HR and leaders to understand the millennial generation in depth and get the deal right as well as assisting the millennial to grow.

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics prepared the Maximizing Millennial in the Workforce report whereby 2014 36% of the U.S workforce composed the millennial generation they predicted that by 2020 the percentage would rise to 46% (Brack & Kerry, 2012). Their paper examines the positive characteristics millennial brin...