Getting the right people is essential for success–a HAN business article

The fear of global talent shortages due to an increasingly aging workforce, along with the impact of generational differences and their diverse expectations and attitudes around work has motivated companies to focus more heavily on identifying, developing and retaining talented employees.

In an environment where unemployment is at its lowest for 30 years the workplace market has become highly competitive for employers. In a recent survey of 1300 professionals 86 per cent of respondents indicated their willingness to change jobs should promotional opportunities be greater elsewhere.

This attitude reflects two real shifts in the employment marketplace; one is that employees are no longer looking for a job that they can hold onto for life and are keen to explore new opportunities. The other is that companies are becoming aware that employing the right people is as important to their competitive edge as the product or service they are selling.

Whereas in the past companies competed in the marketplace based on traditional business strategies such as technology, financial capital and physical resources, in today’s global marketplace ‘people talent’ has become the key differentiator in enabling businesses to gain a competitive edge.

“Global competition for talent and an aging and narrowing workforce is creating an environment in which companies are reassessing the way they deal with talent within their business structures. Managing talent has become the new bargaining chip; in order to compete employers must be able to attract, retain and develop high performing employees,” says Grabyn.

Boomers and Gen Xers



Why has talent become the focus? Grabyn (pictured) says one reason is the diversity in the composition of the workforce - the different generations working together. “Traditionally the workplace has seen different generations positioned at different levels e.g; the elders at the top. Today the reality is that we have teams of diverse ages; older leaders managing across the generations and younger graduates managing older workers. Understanding the generational differences and maximising this diversity is one of the greatest challenges facing not only the printing industry, but all commercial sectors.”

We hear a lot about the different generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y – but what do these labels actually represent?

Broadly speaking Baby Boomers are aged between 43 and 58 years; Generation X 28-42 years and Generation Y 28 years and under.


The classifications for each ‘generation’ are generalised and of course there are many exceptions, however in basic terms Baby Boomers value loyalty, respect hierarchy and are more likely to stay in their chosen career for life. They deem professional respect and promotion through tenure of service, accept leadership to be hierarchical and deem training required only if there is a problem.

Gen X are driven by their desire for a work/life balance, have limited loyalty to work, they are ambitious and are in a hurry to get to the top. Professional respect is gained by performance, promotion by merit and training is required.

Gen Y is very different again. They are technology savvy, thrive on working collaboratively, demand flexibility in the workplace and have high expectations of their bosses to be coaches and mentors. They expect respect for their educational qualifications (despite lack of work and life experiences), believe promotion is a right and training is necessary and expected.

Age is where the focus is

An understanding and appreciation for the different values and perspectives of each generation will help remove conflict in the workplace and maximise the potential these differences can bring to an organisation.

“Age has become the focus as gender issues and cultural diversity have been addressed over the past few decades, although that doesn’t mean there isn’t still more work to do in these areas also.”

“We are currently entering into some of the biggest generational shifts seen for decades as the Baby Boomers begin to retire, Gen X steps into management and leadership roles and Gen Y enters the workforce. This shift in dynamics is having a dramatic impact on the way a company fulfills its business objectives.”

”You want loyalty with that?”

In today’s workforce, companies are seeing a huge decline in tenure. Generally it is an employee's market with increased numbers of options - choices of jobs, educational options, opportunities to travel and work overseas. Gen X and Y's in particular have little loyalty to an organisation. They expect multiple needs to be met at work and are not interested in only achieving task outcomes and receiving financial rewards. They want the flexibility to manage personal aspirations and expect their jobs to be fun. They are looking for opportunities for professional and personal growth, and expect to be challenged.

The biggest human resources challenge for our industry says Grabyn is how do we attract and then retain these people? Critical to this, is ensuring the right leadership and management capability within the business. It is one thing to attract people to the organisation, but retention of high performers is essential.

“At Heidelberg our talent management strategies extend well beyond attracting and recruiting the best talent to focusing on effectively managing, developing and retaining our talent through the talent management life cycle, from pre-hire to retire.”

With greater than 50 per cent of the Australian workforce being Gen X and Y, managers need to understand their team members and what motivates them. Pivotal to employee retention in today’s business environment is the management of people skills.

“Retaining and developing staff is all about knowing how to resolve conflict constructively, how to communicate effectively, how to give people feedback, not only on poor performance, but also when a job is well done.”

“The new generation of workers is motivated by a manager from whom they can learn, who they respect and who respects them in return. They want someone who is willing to develop, mentor and coach them. Managers must know how to manage team members as individuals as well as part of the team. All too often we are confronted with 'avoidance, excuses and blame' cultures in organisations, where managers avoid dealing with conflict and when something goes wrong they look for someone to blame. What is essential for the workforce of today is a collaborative culture, where ownership, accountability and responsibility is the norm.”

Upgrading skills is a life-long task

As a starting point says Grabyn, determining the right robust strategy for recruitment is especially important as is ensuring managers and the HR team are effectively trained and capable of executing it. It is essential that organisations not only have a shared vision of the skills and competencies required, but also an active talent pool identified, internally, and if possibly externally to the organisation. Having this talent pool will support career development opportunities, and minimise time to fill positions. In addition, it is also critical to identity the skills and competencies required by an organisation in order to secure the future of the business.

“The skills of today and yesterday need to be continually developed and built on. Our industry is rapidly changing and our employees (current and future) need to be prepared to invest the time and effort required to continually develop their skills; similarly the organisation needs to be committed to and supportive of this development.”

“Leadership and management development, soft skill development, general business management skills, on the job training in technical skills and workplace flexibility are critical to business success and this is where companies like Heidelberg are focusing their human resources energies to ensure we have the right workforce to enable us to continue to be competitive well into the future,” concludes Grabyn.

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