By good quality, they mean, young, enthusiastic, energetic, clever, creative and willing to work long hours for not so much money. “You shouldn’t work for money, you should follow your passion,” they say.
This is easy to say of course when you already have the money, and you’ve done enough in your life to know what your passion is, but when you’ve just finished your studies, and are about to be ejected into the cruel world of work, you can get a bit confused and lost.
And so who can blame you when you want to focus on money, because that’s the only thing you know that you can focus on. You’ve spent your parents’ money, you’ve got student loans and you want to continue to enjoy a lifestyle you’ve become accustomed to.
The other lament is about how different and spoilt young people are today. They are lazy, fickle, can’t take hard knocks, say boo to them and they leave, and they leave for $50. “There’s no loyalty these days,” is a common refrain.
I wonder though if it is as much the organisation’s fault as the employee’s. Every generation wants different things. Every generation is supposed to be better off than the previous. I certainly wanted different things from my mother because I had a choice, and kids today want different things from me because they have more choices.
If we expect to attract a new generation of talent, and retain them, then we have to do things differently, think differently. As much as we want them to fit in with our way of doing things, we need to fit around them too – it’s an old truth, if you want to hold onto good people, you accommodate them.
So perhaps in this new economy, employers need to rethink how they accommodate good quality talent who have different attitudes towards work-life balance from a previous generation.
I’ve heard of some companies that are trying to do things differently. For Asian Oasis in Thailand, the recent floods in Bangkok were a blessing in disguise. Staff had to work remotely because they couldn’t get to work and “we found that worked so well that now all our staff work remotely,” chairman Chananya Phataraprasit told me when I was in Bangkok recently.
“And it’s working so well, they are more productive and happier and it works for us too because it saves on office overheads.”
New ways needed to tackle talent crunch
Last week, I also met up with Michael Sengol, CEO of Meritus Hotels and Resorts, recently who was conferred The Leading CEO Award at the Singapore HR Awards 2011 in August 2011.
He was selected for the distinction after a four-month-long judging process that included workplace assessments. “Among the key criteria for Leading CEO Award is the clear illustration of the CEO’s ability to support, champion, and endorse effective and innovative HR and people management practices as an important business outcome. The CEO should also exemplify personal leadership and integrity in driving diversity and flexibility in the organization.”
He told me the first thing he did when the Singapore government decided to clamp down on foreign labour was put a freeze on hiring. “I don’t think it’s a question of getting and needing more staff, it’s a question of thinking and doing things differently.
“People get used to a certain way of doing things – because it’s always been done that way.”
On his table were strewn charts upon charts. This is a man who tracks everything – down to profit per employee. He wants people to know that their actions are responsible right down to the bottomline.
He talks of the need to restructure work so that we can ensure high productivity among all employees regardless of function and age and also that we can accommodate older folks in our societies.
They don’t want to work 9-5, they want flexible hours. Married women whose kids have grown up – they want to work but not necessarily full-time. Folks who’ve worked most of their lives but now need a better work-life balance.
Recently, I was speaking to a group of Singapore Management University students, attending the World Travel & Tourism class, and one of them told me of how he attended a recruitment workshop by a certain company and he was told outright, “There is no work-life balance in our company.”
That can be a turn-off when you are looking for that first job.
In the last couple of years, I have watched people I love struggle with this phase in life – that abyss between school and work life. It can be frightening and confusing. And I have found myself helpless to offer any sound advice. What worked for me may not work for someone else.
But surely there’s got to be a way of creating an environment where school leavers and job seekers can pick up relevant learning points so they can make some informed decisions, meet industry leaders face-to-face, be coached on certain life skills and, ultimately, find the right job match for themselves.
That’s the idea behind a new project we are launching with WITNext this year. The WITNext Summercamp, set for June 21-22 in Singapore, will have four objectives: Inspire a new generation about travel and tourism; expose the diversity and scope of jobs available in travel and tourism; create an environment for real learning and engagement; and connect travel companies and future talent and vice versa.
Win Your Dream Travel Job
WITNext Summercamp – Travel. Not Just A Job – will comprise a “Win Your Dream Travel Job” competition where finalists will have a personal coach each on presentation skills to deliver The Dream Job Pitch to a panel of judges; a conference featuring respected travel industry leaders; and a Job Bazaar which will match travel companies with job seekers and school leavers.
Attendance at this event is free to those who pre-register with [email protected] on a first-come-first-serve basis – we welcome school leavers, job seekers and anyone working in other industries who are keen to explore opportunities in travel and tourism.
We hope to work with our WITNext patrons to roll out this event and we are pleased to welcome onboard our first partners, the Singapore Hotel Association and SHATEC, SHA’s Training and Educational Centre, and HSMAI Singapore Chapter.
We welcome anyone who wants to work with us on this event, and stay tuned for more details, as we unroll our first WITNext Summercamp.
