Page 85 - Retaining Top Employees

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Know Your Demographics 73

Growth Opportunities
For Gen X employees, personal and career growth opportunities
come with the territory: they must be built into the package
right from the start. For Gen-Xers, the notion of having to tread
water, to prove worthy before being allowed to benefit from per-
sonal growth opportunities, is alien.
This is, to some extent, a reflection of the differences in edu-
cation opportunities afforded Boomers and Gen-Xers. Many
Boomers were the first of their family to go to college and
viewed that opportunity (and similar developmental opportuni-
ties later on in life) as a privilege. Gen-Xers, on the other hand,
live at a time when college education is a much more accepted,
natural part of growing up. Gen-Xers therefore expect to be
trained, educated, and developed as part of their job—not as a
reward for good performance.
Compensation and Rewards
As with growth opportunities, Gen-Xers expect compensation
packages to be based on performance—not on length of time
served, apparent status, or any other systemic measurement.
They want to be recognized and rewarded for what they

Access, Not Content
If you have a roster of personal and growth opportunities
available for employees and if your employees are taking
advantage of the opportunities at a reasonable rate (see “The Proof Is
in the Pudding,” p. 68), it’s highly likely that you need do little to
change the actual opportunities for Gen X employees.The main
change will involve the access to such opportunities.You may well need
to do away with such restrictions as tenure-based rules preventing
access to paid study leave until someone has worked for the organiza-
tion for X years.
Be aware that making these changes will almost certainly provoke
negative reactions among employees who had to put in time waiting
for such opportunities,but since you’re improving the situation for all
employees,such reactions will be short-lived. In any case,it’s better to
deal with a little dissatisfaction than to maintain the old system based
on time served.