A year should have six months, better still four

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Here is a typical conversation between recently hired Bright Spark and Boss.

BS, ‘I think I’m stagnating!’

Boss, ‘What? You have been in this assignment for only 3 months!’

BS, ‘Yes, it has already been 3 months and I am not doing anything new.’

So BS is sent to meet HR Head.

HRH, ‘ We have plans for you. Over the next one year we will groom you to take on higher responsibilities. In two years time you should be heading your own business unit’.

BS, ‘ Two years? Jeez! I will be an old man by then!’

So What Has Changed?

True, the young have always been impatient, restless and definitely more fickle. This was always tempered by the steel of the experienced and older majority at workplaces. However, in today’s world, where the demographics are sharply tilted in favour of youth and workplaces have become increasingly younger, it is but natural that this restlessness and impatience will spill over in the workplace as well. It is not neccessarily a good or bad thing, it is just the way it is.
Consider the rapidly changing landscape of products and technologies. Where the radio and TV had 30 years between them, the computer cum tv cum radio cum camera cum mobile phone and the voice only mobile have just five!
Consider also, how Google, Wiki, Facebook (between 3 and 7 year old themselves) have changed the way we socialize, communicate and view our horizons. Now consider how Digg It and Twitter may well replace these. You are beginning to get a sense of the speed of the escalator we are on.
Mr BS spends easily and has thus rollercoastered into a lifestyle ahead of the curve. He lives on loans and EMIs because he believes tomorrow will be a better brighter day. So his happiness with a rise in pay is a function of when the new EMIs hit his bank account.
Everything is operating at higher RPMs and more KMPHs. Especially in the context of our ‘developing’ country, new ideas, newer opportunities, new ways to spend money are being cranked up in this accelerating machine.
The millenial employee is a product of this very machine.
The concept of time has undergone a change and maybe the bosses, products of another century, have not noticed.

New Measure of Time

The traditional measure of time, in relation to employees, has been a year. In most jobs, for a majority of the young BSes, this represents a lot of days to feel you are going nowhere.

If we could break this up into 2 or better still 3 parts then we could introduce a set of milestones that are always round the corner.

Self -development Milestones
KRA Milestones
Compensation Milestones
Growth Milestones

The organisation would also benefit from having systems that will be more aligned to deliver, greater speeds and also provide more flexibility in business planning.It does not represent any increase in cost but certainly requires a lot more time invested in employee appraisal, feedback, compensation management and so on. This would have the positive effect of creating an environment where the employee sees, within the time frame of his attention span, growth for himself and positive intent from the employer.

Sales people have lived with systems very similar to these for a long time now though it has usually been linked to only one parameter – sales and incentives. It is well documented that companies where incentives are paid out more frequently have found it easier to motivate and retain employees.

Of course many of the basics about human nature have not changed. People will still prefer to work in an environment that is enriching and promises continuous growth. However, the understanding of time frames do require tweaking, to be more alligned to the new generation

Comments

5 responses to “A year should have six months, better still four”

October 5, 2008

Ujaya

You are definately right that today’s generations are impatient, restless and they definately wants to grow faster than their parents because of the new challenges in the market place. In even more acute in the advertising profession.

Definately, we will have to look upon and see how to retain these newer lots.

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October 5, 2008

R.Rajesh

Hmmm interesting topic. And a very interesting solution, well thought out and articulated.
However, I for one don’t agree entirely with it.
I believe its not really workable because the problem is a psychological one, whether catalysed by the external evironment or a newer actualisation paradigm.
So by breaking up time into smaller units, we are not finding a solution, but merely breaking up a problem into smaller instalments. The whole continues to be the sum of the parts.
While more frequent KRA and responsibility/ reward milestones are good ( its like periodical exams before a final exam, in school), and there is a case to be made for staggered compensations with smaller raises every 3 months maybe, the fact is that the human mind is such that we’ll now find newer ways of achieving dissatisfaction with whatever the status quo is.
If increments are due every 3 months, you’ll have the same employees who left after annual raises, who now leave quarterly and use this as a negotiation plank. To use a corollary, If you’re splurging 10k on a gadget that is intrinsically of no value to you, it doesnt matter if u pay 10k in one go or 1k in ten instalments. The fact is that it was an avoidable expense. And the trick lies in identifying what is a cost,and what is an expense. By reducing the latter and managing the former, your moneys become investments.
The same is true of Human capital. We need to identify ‘people investments’, and then give them a canvas and TLC to flourish.
Without this, compressed timeframes become merely rationed problems.
That’s my two pennies:-)

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October 5, 2008

Ganesh V

A very interesting topic and a challenge that we are all facing today.

In my view, the key question is not how much we pay the BS (within reason) but how much he/she is enjoying the work and how fairly he/she feels rewarded for it. If we score poorly on either of these parameters, retention is always going to be a challenge. There is obviously no set formula but here are some of the things that leaders could do to move the needle up on these parameters:
– empower their teams and back them up
– provide opportunities to play at a level bigger than their roles
– provide networking opportunities
– celebrate their successes
– help them with career planning
– personal development planning that supports the career plans of the BS.

Without these, more frequent assessments will simply be an added administrative overhead on the organisation. The old adage, ‘Look after the people and the business will happen’ still holds true.

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October 8, 2008

anil

been there, done that. i am not sure it is entirely a new phenomenon, it has been in the advertising industry for quite a while. in fact, it is the fast moving mentality that gets people into advertising jobs. and it is likely to stay with them and manifest in the way they react to their progress at work.

if i was not promoted every year, i used to feel i was standing still. and it took me a while to realise that promotions alone does not make you happy. nor money alone. nor quality of work alone. you will need a balance of things, and a maturing mind that helps you assimilate what you have achieved, and what you will not achieve this lifetime. and the realisation that the biggest happiness is probably to be found outside your workplace. work is just a way of funding that progression. in my humble opinion.

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October 12, 2008

Rajiv

Well articulated to a problem that we all face regularly. Being in an industry which is purely people driven I can relate to this.However, like some one commented the young and the restless will find other ways to be dissatisfied.You said the gaps are shortening – so we as leaders have to bring them up the learning curve. What we learnt in 10 years have to be taught to them in 5. We have to tell them how a career is a long journey and short sightedness will not help. The key is to look after their concerns genuinely and not provide just lip service. Sincerely try to resolve their issues. Provide them with Marketable skills in their jobs. Create a balance in Compensation, Challenging work, and new skills. There is no fixed measure. One shoe doesn’t fit all, so customise according to what raises the adrenalin.

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