Employee engagement has been attracting more attention than ever before as organizations look at the demographics of their employee populations in an age of declining pools of skilled potential employees. The ‘baby boomers’ are nearing retirement. Who will succeed them? Where will we find these people? How will we retain them? There is no doubt that, if retirement predictions for the ‘boomer’ generation are even close to accurate, the nexus generation will be in high demand.

An engaged employee is a person who is fully and enthusiastically involved in work. They are attracted, committed, and inspired by their work. They care about the future of their organization and how they can contribute to its success, now and in the future. It is being argued that an engaged workforce can create competitive advantage, higher productivity and that organizations will experience less attrition and health related absences.

Engaging the ‘nexus’ generation seems like something worth exploring. Sure enough, there have been research studies, surveys, conferences, forums, and management books focused on this issue. There are consulting practices dedicated to measuring employee engagement; designing behavioural strategies and corporate programs to achieving it; and training managers in the techniques of encouraging it.

The bulk of the attention has focused on the differences between the ‘nexus’ generation and those preceding it and the systems and programs necessary to address those differences. While these are very worthy of attention, I feel there is an alternate perspective that may in fact hold the secret to engaging and retaining the nexus generation.

In the spring and fall of each year Transition Resources Group hosts a breakfast meeting for clients and friends of the firm. The purpose of these meetings is to examine a workplace related topic of interest. While we utilize various methods and approaches, each is based on the belief that if you have the right people in the room, the group will together find the answers they seek. In other words, the room contains all the knowledge and expertise needed. All that is needed is to tap into that wealth of experience.

Last spring we decided to explore the following question:

What keys will open the door to full engagement of the ‘nexus generation’ in the work place?

With over 80 in attendance comprised of both ‘nexus generation’ members and the more ‘seasoned’ among us in relatively equal numbers, we engaged in an interactive dialogue using ‘appreciative inquiry’.

Appreciative Inquiry is a change process and a philosophy, which emphasizes collaboration and participation of all voices in the system. It focuses on discovering and applying new knowledge/new ideas about key aspects of organization life. In particular it focuses on generating and applying knowledge that comes from inquiry into moments of excellence, periods of exceptional competence and performance – times when people felt most alive and energized.

Using an interview protocol that enabled a member of the ‘nexus’ generation to engage in dialogue with a member from another generation, the group explored in pairs and small groups when each individual felt most engaged with their work and what made it so. Each small group presented in plenary session what they had learned from each other.

The level of activity in the room as we worked in pairs and small groups was highly energized with focused dialogue, animated presentations, laughter, and flip charting. The participants’ assessments of the session suggest this was a valuable and meaningful experience.

In listening to the presentations and reviewing the flipcharts prepared by the groups I was struck by all that the generations share in common more than how we differ.

The groups’ findings can be summarized as follows:

Personal Values

• All generations in the room place more importance on aligning their personal and work lives to their personal values and ethics => a merging of values in both contexts.
• All generations present were attracted to and motivated by the cause they were serving more than to the company or its structure.
• One group sensed a paradigm shift currently underway within the workplace => moving away from an organizational focus to a focus upon self; employees are not as willing to sacrifice their values, interests, aspirations for the sake of the organization. This shift was consistent across the generations present in the group. They concluded that the best employment practices involve a concept they called ‘Individual Creative Ownership’.

Work Environment

• When describing the ideal work environment all generations in the room stressed fairness, trust, and respect. One group viewed trust being achieved by empowering employees through the sharing of knowledge via mentorship, networking and communication.
• All generations expressed an attraction to work environments that were:
  • Fast paced
  • Driven by challenges
  • Provided empowerment => the opportunity to take a leadership role within the organization
  • Interesting and engaging work
  • Provided flexibility and varied opportunities
    
• Empowerment was described as ‘… being listened to, supported and trusted.
• When describing a ‘best work experience’ and what made it so, most participants regardless of age spoke of being recognized, appreciated and acknowledged for their contribution.
• From the presentations it appears that those members of the nexus generation present at the session are looking for stability in the workplace but not in the same way as previous generations. They do not want to be stuck in one job for their entire careers and the challenge to keep them engaged is to create a workplace that allows for maximum mobility so they chase their ‘8 careers’ within one workplace.
• Those nexus generation members present also made it clear that they relish freedom through such things as flex hours, casual dress code and ‘individual creative ownership’.
  

Work Content

• One of the groups concluded that ‘loving your work includes being connected to the whole of their work from the start to the end (which) includes working and being connected with others. For the nexus generation this includes being mentored.

Work – Life Balance

• A strong and consistent theme, once again across all generations, was the need for work/life balance. One group stated that ‘companies need to start walking the walk in terms of balance, ethics, health, etc. and to do this we need to work smarter, not harder because no one wants to work harder’. It was acknowledged that each individual, depending upon their personal circumstances and stage in their career, will define the balance differently.

In the plenary session, the attendees reached a significant conclusion. The nexus generation and previous generations are looking for essentially the same things from the workplace. The key difference is in the timing. The nexus generation wants them now. Previous generations have been prepared ‘to do their time’ first in order to ‘earn’ the privilege of the ideal job and environment (e.g. work – life balance).

Much of our focus as Human Resources Professionals has been on developing systems and processes as important tools to addressing employee engagement. However, as the findings from our breakfast meeting suggest, they are not the end of the story. Systems and processes cannot be designed in isolation of corporate culture. They need to be reflective of what is valued by the members of the organization. They need to align with organizational values that appeal to people; values that support the basic human need for acknowledgement, inclusion and the pursuit of competency and meaning. Employee engagement begins with a dialogue… what is important to you? What is important to me? How can we include these in our future together?

Jeff Singer is President of Transition Resources Group Inc. which is focused on promoting organizations and communities that are productive, healthy and sustainable by facilitating processes by which people live and work together within human systems for their mutual benefit. Transition Resources Group helps individuals, teams, and organizations purposefully transition into the future by providing and facilitating processes that enable them to pursue their personal and organizational goals through the following practice areas: Career planning and transition support; Leadership assessment, development and coaching; and Strategic alignment and change management.