Page 216 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

Job Enrichment and Professional Growth C203

Gen Xers (born 1965–1980)

: Key concerns: Keeping them challenged and constantly
learning (using a variety of media and learning methods)
to keep them engaged despite limited opportunities for
advancement caused by the postponed retirement of mil-
lions of Boomers, allowing them time off for personal and
family life (and giving special recognition for sacrifices in
these realms), not micromanaging them—trusting them
with strong initial guidance and coaching to pursue re-
sults in their own way, and bending the rules and going
to bat for them when you can.

Millennials (born 1981–1994)

: Key concerns: Providing them with the additional mea-
sure of feedback and coaching they need to take on the
challenges they are eager to pursue, providing continual
training and learning opportunities, encouraging them
to work in teams and develop social skills, making them
aware early on that they will be expected to take the ini-
tiative and make decisions independently and on the fly
in unstructured situations, pairing them with older men-
tors, and taking a personal interest in their career goals
and helping them develop the competencies they need to
be successful.

: THE JOB ENRICHMENT FILTER

As we perused the comments of employees at Best-Places-to-Work
winners, it occurred to us that there are several factors that go into
creating an enriched job. We created the following table as a “filter” to