From the Archives: On the job with Gen X
This article is from the April 2000 issue of Canadian Grocer. Please note that the information is out of date, but you might still find it interesting. We’ll be re-publishing select stories from our archives in the coming months in recognition of Canadian Grocer’s 140th anniversary. For today’s news, subscribe to our free daily newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.
The days of handing out gold watches are long gone. Years ago, people worked their way through the ranks of a business, climbing the proverbial corporate ladder.
“The best would rise to the top, and the mediocre people would drop off along the way,” says consultant Bruce Tulgan. But then came years of downsizing, rightsizing and corporate mergers. More than 20,000 jobs were cut in the retail food industry alone in the past decade. As a result, many workers went into survival mode.
In the past couple of years, however, Canada’s unemployment rate has hovered under 10%, and in March it dropped to 6.8%, the lowest rate since the 1970s. As the job picture continues to improve, quality employees are increasingly difficult to find—and retain. Today, “you can’t get people to pay their dues and climb the ladder anymore,” says Tulgan. Now, it seems, the best are the most likely to leave. And why? “Because they can,” he says.
Enter the ‘free agent’
A major force in the new economy is the “free agent,” who tends to hop from opportunity to opportunity. Many of these workers are from “Generation X.” Born around 1963 to 1977, the population wave that follows the baby boomers, these Gen Xers are a talented and ambitious lot. And they’re a different breed from the workforce that was raised to covet the gold watch.
“They have no attachment to the old-fashioned career path,” says Tulgan, the author of Managing Generation X.
While older workers have endured the stress of restructuring, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, Gen Xers entered the workforce under such circumstances. Chances are, they’ve always worked in changing, if not chaotic, environments.
From today: Mind the generational gap
At several million strong, Gen Xers are having a significant impact on the Canadian economy. Today’s workplace needs quick learners and staff who are technologically literate and flexible. In many cases, the Gen X crowd fits the bill. They know they’re marketable. Their attitude is commonly, “I’ll go wherever opportunity takes me,” says Tulgan, a Gen Xer himself. “If they have hot skills, they’re willing to walk.”
Many perceive them to be lacking loyalty. But Ernie Monschein, director of education and human resource development at the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), believes that Gen Xers can become loyal if you treat them right. That may mean bestowing responsibility, rewards and useful feedback. “They can make excellent employees if they have the opportunity to learn new skills,” he says.
“They have different needs, expectations and work styles—and in today’s environment, they don’t have to accommodate us; we have to accommodate them,” adds Monschein.
In Canada, part-time turnover is about 35% per year. In the U.S., the rate was 55% in 1998, but when the final numbers are crunched for 1999, the figure will likely be higher, predicts Monschein. Some industry watchers believe America’s part-time turnover is as high as 60% to 80%.
The cost of turnover is substantial. Some costs can be hard to put a dollar value on, such as poor morale resulting from constant turnover and reduced profits entailed in getting a newcomer up to speed. To start with, many human resource professionals estimate that replacing a terminated employee costs more than $1,000. But a study by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council, released in January, factors in the cost of administrative expenses and lost productivity. The study estimates replacing an hourly employee costs about $3,500.
How can grocers cope in the ‘new economy’?
“There’s no magic wand,” says Alan Jarvis, president of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario (HRPAO). But there are a couple of things that employers should be doing. “First, accept the evolution in the workplace,” he stresses. “Second, adapt to the changes.”
Don’t just wait for unemployment to go back up, advises Tulgan, who was a keynote speaker at FMI’s latest Marketechnics conference. The president of Connecticut-based Rainmaker Thinking, Inc., Tulgan sees the key to adapting to the current staffing crisis as understanding that “people are thinking about their working lives and careers in a whole new way.”
He points out that the core of full-time, steady talent is getting smaller, while the “fluid talent pool” is expanding. However, that fluid talent pool, which includes many Gen Xers, must be managed differently.
From today: The future of work—according to generation Z—is purposeful, digital and flexible
“As a generation...they’re not slackers, not lazy—just different,” says Monschein. “We need to realize that we can’t treat all employees the same way—that it’s no longer necessary to have every future store manager spending three months on the night stocking shift or taking 10 years to have their own store.”
Tulgan seems to concur: “The enemy is the one-size-fits-all career path. The more ways you have to get the work done, the better off you’re going to be.” Focus on getting the best work out of the best people, he says, and don’t focus on hierarchy. “The org chart is your big distraction.”
“This group hates to be controlled,” observes Larry Taylor, a managing partner with Ernst & Young, of Toronto, Ont., who encounters many Gen Xers in his work. They don’t like the word “manager” or the idea of someone looking over their shoulder constantly. They prefer the concept of a team manager—a role model they can turn to if they need assistance. Perks such as relaxed dress codes and flexible work schedules are among the “must-haves” in the job search of many of these workers.
Become an employer of choice
To turn the current staffing crisis into a strategic advantage, start by hiring people who have already been trained by your competition, suggests Tulgan. To be able to do that, you must become the “employer of choice.” But many agree that the grocery industry has, for the most part, been doing a lousy job of that. One such critic is consultant Mel Kleiman, who believes the industry should work harder at becoming young people’s employer of choice, not the choice of the parents’ generation.
From today: Is your workforce ready for what's next?
“One of the frustrating things about the grocery industry is that the grocery stores, for years, had a look at the best and the brightest,” says Kleiman. Yet the industry has failed to challenge these hotshots.
Hiring tips
Innovative ways to attract new staff include hosting internal job fairs, posting openings on Internet sites, and using more word-of-mouth referral bonuses. FMI’s Monschein recommends hiring good, local people, so that your workforce resembles your customers.
Before posting any jobs, however, management should be asking themselves some tough questions, says Kleiman, of the Texas-based Hire Tough Group, which specializes in helping employers reduce turnover in their hourly wage pool. First, ask: “Can we do this job without an employee? Can we do this job in a different way?” Perhaps a task could be outsourced, assumed by existing staff, simplified with technology or omitted. Then, before interviewing begins, ask: “Why should anyone want to work for us?”
The author of books such as 267 Hire Tough Proven Interview Questions for Hiring the Best Hourly Employees, Kleiman says that one of those “best questions” to ask job candidates is about their first paid position. “Who you are is what you were then,” he explains. Recognize that having three jobs in six years or having been laid off are “not necessarily red flags,” suggests Jarvis, of HRPAO. “Don’t discard people who move around,” but be prepared for the fact that a free agent may stay with you for just two years if that has been the person’s pattern of employment.
Incentives, motivation and retention
Among the under-35 crowd, lack of interesting work is one of the top reasons cited for leaving a company, says Taylor, of Ernst & Young. Also common is a quest for “balance,” a reason that’s particularly popular among those eager to have children.
Taylor adds that many young people depart if they’re not getting sufficient feedback or training. “Salary is usually in the top five reasons for leaving, but it’s not in the top two,” he claims.
However, Gen Xers do expect to be paid fairly. And in their culture, “fair” does not mean rewarding a high performer with the same mediocre increase given to the person just plodding along at the next register.
Tulgan advocates a “customized” rewards system that provides cash bonuses and extra incentives for exemplary work. “Pay high performers what they’re worth,” he urges. However, in a unionized environment—and about 34% of Canada’s food retail employees are unionized— such monetary rewards are not always possible. But management can be creative in conferring special privileges for those who’ve performed well, he says.
“If someone tells you something they want, they’ve just told you how to motivate them,” says Tulgan. In this new economy, Thrifty Foods, of B.C., has managed to hold onto many Gen Xers for several years, reports Maureen Savoy, the human resources manager.
A pay-for-performance program, career planning assistance and extensive training are just some of the reasons that Thrifty has a turnover rate that’s better than the national average. In addition, under the company’s performance review plan, employees have the opportunity to discuss their manager’s performance as it relates to their own job and offer suggestions for improvement.
Time off or choice of shifts may be preferred rewards for some high performers. Some companies reward great staff with free trips, while others offer profit- sharing, stock-option or stock-purchase plans. A stake in their companies’ IPO (initial public offering) is what many techie-types are negotiating in their compensation packages these days. In some companies, programs to put computers in the homes of employees and discounted Internet access are well received.
Submit your entry today for Canadian Grocer's 2026 Generation Next Awards!
Just remember, if your workplace is unionized, ensure that any rewards or incentives offered comply with your collective agreement.
“We have to offer more creative pay and benefits and open the door to the idea of our managers owning a piece of our companies,” says Monschein. Creative methods may include instilling a cost control mentality in staff, then rewarding high performers with a portion of the savings achieved. In addition to rewarding managers for controlling shrink or increasing sales, consider giving them the incentive to make hiring, training and retaining people a priority, he suggests.
Most young people want “interesting work and challenge,” and they should be trained for a variety of responsibilities, not just relegated to one job, such as checking groceries or stocking shelves, says Kleiman.
Training
Improved training and rewards were the essential recommendations of 1998’s Creating the Future, a report on human resources in Canada’s food industry. The report emphasizes the need for a greater investment in innovative training programs.
According to FMI, the median spending for supermarket training in the U.S. was 0.1% of sales in 1998. In Canada, grocers spent about 0.9% of payroll on training in 1997–98. In either case, that’s not nearly enough, says Monschein.In today’s economy, and particularly when dealing with the free agent mentality, it makes sense to stop training for the long haul, says Tulgan.
“Train for one mission at a time. Get them up to speed quickly.” Jarvis says the industry should create better challenges matched to young employees’ high-tech upbringing. “They multiplex better than we ever did,” says the 40-something executive. “So, you’d better have a multimedia approach”—one that integrates video, group training, interactive CD-ROMs and a lot of variety.
“Young people can learn with 18 things going on at one time,” he says.
Data from late 1999 showed that about 88% of FMI members were using videos, 29% were using CD-ROMs, and 24% were using intranet or extranet programs for training.
Missouri-based grocer Dierberg’s created a career development centre and a corporate library to benefit its ambitious staff—part of the efforts credited with reducing the company’s full- and part-time turnover rate to about 30% for the past four years, well under the U.S. average.
“Your employees must come first, because if you hire, train and meet their needs, they will be more likely to meet your customers’ needs and provide good service,” says Monschein. “Listen to the needs of your people, and do your utmost to meet their needs. A satisfied workforce is a retained workforce, and satisfied employees satisfy your customers.”
