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Is The Traditional 9-5 Workday Sliding Towards Irrelevance?

August 29th, 2018 | Posted by ATS in Careers | Google | HR | Millennials | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software - (Comments Off on Is The Traditional 9-5 Workday Sliding Towards Irrelevance?)

Defenders of the good ole’ days will have a counter argument that the traditional 9-5 workday is thriving and will never go away. Maybe so but, that remains to be seen. Employees increasingly want to untethered themselves from the 24/7 work culture and instead are searching for jobs that let them better balance their careers and personal lives. And, while the shift in attitude about the new way of working can be attributed to Millenialls and GenerationZ, even some older workers are beginning to seek for flexible work arrangements from their employers —in other words, the work-life-balance is becoming infectious.

Is The Traditional 9-5 Workday Sliding Towards Irrelevance?

Meghan M.Biro article Did Millennials Kill the 9-to-5 Workday, or Just Point Out That It’s Dead? is wonderful read on topic and reads in part;

“Millennials are mostly comfortable with change. If they take a job at one company, and start to feel overworked or undervalued, they’ll just move on to another company. They certainly don’t want to be chained to a desk for 40-plus hours a week.

Millennials are not lazy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. If they have an employer that enables them to do so, they’ll skillfully blend their work and personal lives to get the balance they’re looking for. 

If your organization can offer amenities like advanced training, remote or flexible work schedules, the latest and greatest when it come stop technology, and some regular encouragement and appreciation, this generation is much more likely to stay with your company for the long haul.

I think it’s good that we’re redesigning the concept of the 9-to-5 workday. Technology allows us to work where we want when we want. For progressive organizations, it makes sense to harness that potential.

So how can businesses tap into what this generation wants and keep them interested in their careers? Encouraging a culture that embraces flexible schedules and mobile work environments is the best place to start. As a business owner, think about how you can offer more flexibility in your workplace.

  • What duties or roles can be performed online or remotely, either on a full or part-time basis? Some typical examples include writing and research, marketing, sales and development.
  • How will different teams communicate effectively? Explore collaborative platforms designed for creative roles, or perhaps a solution that combines file sharing and workplace communication (like Dropbox or Google Messenger). 
  • If you can’t provide a fully remote-based work schedule, maybe you can offer a few hours of flex time or one day each week where people have the option to work from home.”

Bottom-line- It’s a movement that should not be ignored and business and HR leaders should be ready to adapt their hiring practices to reflect modern-day employee preference that includes, working for organizations that offer flexible work arrangements. In the end, every company wants a happy and productive workforce, which usually translates to increase profits.

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So You Think You Know Millennials And Generation Z? Think Again

June 26th, 2018 | Posted by ATS in Business Software Automation | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Canada | Time and Attendance Toronto - (Comments Off on So You Think You Know Millennials And Generation Z? Think Again)

It’s easy to point to anecdotal evidence about millenials and generation Z and their behaviours when, in reality, you probably are just relying on weak second hand information. A poignant article by Sharon Florentine for CIO titled Everything you need to know about Generation Z gives a wonderful account for those interested in understanding this cohort that will soon dominate the workforce.

So You Think You Know Millennials And Generation Z? Think Again

And while this article deals with Generation Z, many of the traits can also be attributed to millennials as well.

“They prefer face-to-face more than you might think

That leads to a common misconception about Gen Z: They’re somewhat “anti-social” and prefer to communicate through their phones or via technology. That’s not entirely true, according to the “Gen Z & Millennials Collide @ Work” report, from Future Workplace, an HR executive network and research firm, and HR services and staffing company Randstad U.S.A. The research, conducted by Morar Consulting across 10 global markets (U.S., U.K., Germany, Mexico, Poland, Argentina, India, China, Canada and South Africa) between June 22 and July 11, 2016, asked 4,066 respondents in two separate age groups (1,965 Gen Z members; 22 years of age and 2,101 Millennials; aged 23 to 34) about their preparation for work, as well as expectations and experiences of their workplaces.

The research showed that, despite popular beliefs, when asked to rank their preferred method of professional communication, Gen Z would prefer communicating with co-workers and managers in-person rather than by email or by phone.

They want flexibility
While both Gen Z and millennials prefer a technology-enabled workplace with greater social media integration, 41 percent of Gen Z say they prefer to work in corporate offices, according to the research.  

So You Think You Know Millennials And Generation Z? Think Again

They want pay transparency and equity
The Comparably research shows that Gen Z workers in senior developer roles are paid an average of $115,000 annually; nothing to sneeze at. Still, half of Gen Z respondents believe they’re not fairly compensated. That could explain why, when asked what their first priority would be if they were promoted to a high-level leadership role, 27 percent of Gen Z respondents said they would increase employee pay. They were the only age group to choose this as their No. 1 priority; all other millennials and older generations alike were more interested in bettering the team’s vision/strategy, according to the research.”

There are lots of articles highlighting the differences between millennials and Generation Z. One thing is certain, if you are of certain generation and are not ready to embrace these groups into your workforce, you are likely to be upended slowly but surely because as the title of the song suggest; Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.

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Want To Challenge The Status Quo? Get A Millennial In Your Corner

July 7th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Software-as-a-Service (saas) Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Web-Based Time and Attendance Software - (Comments Off on Want To Challenge The Status Quo? Get A Millennial In Your Corner)

There has been so much written about this generation of millennials with arguments about them being social media obsessed and range of other stereotypes . Regardless of whether your company welcomes them with open arms or not, they are not going away and so some companies would be wise to see the value in hiring them. After all, they are the future CEOs of industry and government. Here at ATS, we are fortunate to have leaders who wholeheartedly believes in the hiring of millennials and also encourages them give feedback to their superiors in order to enhance the organizational improvement in all areas of the business.

In a recent article, contributor to inc.com Ryan Jenkins, wrote an article titled “How Millennials Can Save Your Company From Irrelevance” One of his poignant statements in this article reads in part; “An organization left unchanged will conspire against the effectiveness and relevance of itself. The people, habits, or structure of an organization can get in the way of the growth of the organization if the status quo remains unchallenged.”

Society is filled who challenged the status quo and came out on top, despite the naysayers. Elon Musk for example, took the almighty car industry to task and succeeded in selling cars directly to consumers and, Steve Jobs ignored what the so called experts said could not be done and reintroduced the world to mobile computing in a way that it had not been done before with crowds lining up for many blocks to purchase an iPhone. Despite these examples and many others that include; cloud computing and a range of other disruptive technologies, the naysayers persist, in large part, because, doing it the way it has always being done, is the safest way, at least in their minds.

Want To Challenge The Status Quo? Get A Millennial In Your Corner

Another sentence from the article reads in part; “Who’s best positioned to challenge the status quo? The next generation of leaders…the Millennials.”

Many of today’s Millennials are ambitious, and they are also keen on having a job, but may not want to be tethered to a desk for eight hours every day, and frankly, with advancement of technology who would want to?  They grew up in an era of social media so it should not come as a surprise that it’s their mode of communication with friends and colleagues. Of course, not all Millennials are perfect but, then neither are the very people who they will someday replace. Change is tough and it happens regardless of the roadblocks that appear to be in its way.

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